Refugee from Another World
by username94
Summary: A loving grandfather makes a daring choice to save his grandson, but he has shattered the boy's faith in humanity. Reeling from the consequences, Naruto struggles to make a life for himself alone, but can he love it or allow himself to be pulled into a new one. Pairing undecided but not a harem, non-cannon arcs before cannon, ? Wood Slayer magic
1. In the Beginning

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.**

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

_"Thinking/extract from book/writing"_

**"Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published:

Edited: 7/11/2014

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It happened a long time ago.

His family was nomadic like. They wandered around the forest in search of food and supplies because the forest provided them with everything. In return, they guarded the forest from men and magic creatures alike. His people had a symbiotic lifestyle with the forest. No one ever left the forest because no one ever needed to.

Then it happened one day, when he was just a boy no older than the one he had in his arms right now. The aging man had no idea what transpired because it all happened so fast.

At first it was like a small bug flying all over the place basically just aggravating everyone, but the 'bug' soon expanded showing it was no bug. It was portal to another world.

The aging man had, and still has, no idea how or what caused the first tear between the worlds, but he did know that it is dangerous. As the tear began to grow, it stopped moving erratically and soon a pull around the tear began. Like gravity, everything was sucked into it.

His father, the care taker of the forest, used his impressive powers over his wood lacrima to control the roots of the trees to bind the people of his clan to the ground to ensure their safety. The roots effectively kept the people safe, but the gravity-like field of the portal became too persistent and exerted to much force for the roots to keep everyone in place, and soon the gravity of the tear tore everyone from the protection of the trees.

As soon as his feet had stopped touching the ground, all he felt was this utter blinding pain deep within his stomach. It felt as though his magic core was expanding and contracting at the same time.

When the horrible pain finally stopped, he opened his eyes and saw that he was falling, like from several thousand feet falling.

Wetting himself just a bit, the then young boy looked around with some difficulty from the air pressure, and he saw that other people had not survived the travel through the portal and others from a severe panic attack. He knew this because some people no longer had entirely human features, some had an extra arm or leg in random places and some had no limbs at all.

With that realization, he quickly checked his body for normality, and he let out a small sigh of relief because the only change had been the turning of his hair color from a lush forest green to metallic silver.

He suddenly felt a large blow to his entire body that momentarily stunned him and forced his eyes closed from his body's involuntary reaction.

As he reopened his eyes, he saw a godsend, his father's smiling face. His father tried to say something, but the wind drowned out his calm and reassuring voice.

His father quickly looked down and his face filled with terror before a smile took its place. He took the then young boy's arms and legs and wrapped them around his body tightly so that not even a millimeter of space was between them.

At this point, the boy could not see what happened because he was facing the sky by his father's design, so all he felt was hitting the tree canopy far softer than he should have. Still, the branches of the trees shallowly pierced his skin.

Despite the soft impact, they continued to fall towards the ground a little too fast, and at the last second his father twisted them around so that he impacted the ground first.

Shaking off the pain from the hard impact, the then young boy tried to wake his father, but he would not move. The child eventually moved the body on its side and saw the reason, the back of the skull was crushed in.

And so the child sat and wailed for his father and his clan for many hours. Eventually as night fell, his tears dried from overuse.

He used the light of the full moon to dig a grave for his father, but not before taking the knife he cared with him at all times to make a small cut at the base of his father's spine to dig out the wood lacrima that now belonged to him. As tradition, the lacrima is passed down from father to son, but as he pulled out the wood lacrima, he noticed the green light that should be emanating from the small gem slowly dim before losing all its luminescence.

Not dwelling to think on this on, the young boy finished his father's grave with mechanical hands and christened his grave with a sapling he had cut down.

He stayed a little longer to say a silent prayer before climbing a medium sized tree for protection against night time predators because in the morning he had to find a new home no matter how much it hurt.

That is the story of Jiraiya of the Forest traveled through space and time and became Jiraiya of Konoha.

As he grew older and wiser, he learned more about his new world, and he knew this was not his home because the eternano was no longer the same. It was far heavier and harsher here than in his world. It is for this reason that his wood lacrima would not work no matter how hard he tried to make it function properly.

He learned that this world, his home, was filled with anger and hatred, and after he gained the title of Sannin during the Second Shinobi War, he became a writer to help change the minds of men. It was during this very brief period of quality book writing that he met a woman so similar in appearance to the one he loved that his judgment became clouded so much that he lost his virginity to the Senju Princess look alike that night.

It was a one time thing, and it was only meant to be a one night stand, however the repercussions of that night would drastically change the world.

The look alike princess gave birth to a one Minato Namikaze.

Thought Jiraiya would not know it for many years, the look princess died in child birth, and without a father, the young child took his mother's name.

By the time Minato was seven, Tsunade had rejected Jiraiya in a particularly nasty way, so much so that he required comfort that only a woman can give. So he tracked down the look alike princess, but to his great dismay she had died in child birth nine months after their one night stand.

Jiraiay may act like a dummy, but he possesses the intellect born on the battle, and such he put the pieces together.

For a moment, he went into despair because he had a child and he never knew it, but only for moment. He tracked down his child with ease, and found out that the child had entered the Academy and was excelling in it as well.

He looked through the boy's file, and he knew then that he could never be the boy's father. He could be the boy's mentor and friend.

So he trained his child in everything he knew, both good and bad. Jiraiya shared the secrets of this world to his hidden son, and the boy took it in stride. Soon, the student had surpassed the master with the mastering of the _Flying Thunder God_ technique to a degree that even its maker could not. Later, the son surpassed the father when the son married the woman who took his virginity, and a total babe in Jiraiya's opinion, when the father could never even get one date with the woman of his dreams.

His son had surpassed him in every way, and he felt happy and proud.

That happiness turned to sadness and dismay when his son and daughter-in-law gave their lives to keep the Kyuubi at bay and seal it inside their new born son. Overcome with pain, guilt, and grief, Jiraiya left under the pretense of having a spy network to maintain.

And for five years, he did not set foot in his home for fear of dying from heart ache. That all changed when he received reports of his grandson being abused. It was then that Jiraiya formulated a plan.

A very horrible one that would get him court martialed and executed for treason, but his dead clan's motto was 'family first then the clan'. So he conspired in secret, and after a year of planning he executed it.

It begins with the very thing that brought him so much anguish in the first place, the tear.

Truthfully, this is what took him a year to set begin his plan. He spent the entire year just watching the portal with a keen eye. He learned several things.

First off, the portal always begins off small like a bug before exploding to a very large radius before suddenly collapsing in on itself. Secondly, it has an enormous gravitational-like pull. Thirdly, it always appears in the exact same spot as last time. Fourthly, no one that has traveled through it once can travel through it again. Fifthly, the portal is slowing closing, as in never going to open again closing because each time the portal stayed open less and less.

Jiraiya estimated it had maybe two weeks left of being open before finally closing for good.

Finally, using a two way video camera, he learned that the portal opens in the sky here in the Elemental Nations and in Fiore it opens on the ground.

That last part is the really important part. He did not need Naruto dying from falling several feet in the air after all the trouble Jiraiya is going through.

The problem is not getting Naruto away from his ANBU guardians, but hopefully not dying from traveling the portal in of itself. But that is not something that Jiraiya can predict. He just has to hope for the best because his birthright would follow him for forever.

He began his plan the same day that Naruto would turn six.

It started in the morning with a small visit to his onetime sensei, the Hokage. A full spy report later, and he had the day to himself to spend with his grandson before sending him across a deathly tear across the space time continuum in the evening.

He learned many things about his grandson that day, and everything besides his ramen addiction made him want to say screw it and throw the young boy into the tear right now, but he had to wait. The tear would not open for several hours anyway.

So Jiraiya acted a little selfish, he taught his grandson about life, censoring his views on women and the hatred of the world. He also taught him some minor survival skills he would need.

After that, he took the boy for a proper diner to show him there is more than ramen in the world. To his great dismay, the boy inherited his mother's love of ramen, and his father's love of ice cream.

Jiraiya had fun, at least after the tense few seconds before saying, "Hey kid you want some ramen for lunch." Naruto really warmed up to him somewhat after that. For the first time in his life, Jiraiya felt like he was finally making his father proud.

After dinner, he hit the back of Naruto's neck, knocking him unconscious, and Jiraiya fled from Konoha to the portal. As he expected, the ANBU and his sensei began chasing him in minutes.

At one point, they caught up to him, but he knocked two ANBU unconscious in the first few seconds allowing him to escape unharmed. They continued to follow him making sure to keep line of sight while waiting for backup.

Several times his sensei called out to him to stop and please come back, but Jiraiya never answered. He only cried at the life he was about to throw away.

After an hour of non-stop running, Jiraiya found his way to the portal atop a man-made earthen pillar. Jiraiya had created the pillar in advanced so that he quickly get Naruto away.

Running up the pillar using his chakra to stick to the perpendicular slope, Jiraiya brought out a kunai and made a small parallel cut to his grandson's spinal cord. He throw away the kunai and brought out his father's wood lacrima and slipped it inside the open wound before closing said wound with some minor medical chakra. You aren't teammates with the world's best healer and not pick up a few things.

Reaching the top, Jiraiya let one last tear fall before hurling Naruto through the portal.

XXXXXX

In deep in the recesses of its hosts mind, an ancient beast known by many names, but most prominent of them Kyuubi no Kitsune, stirred by its slumber.

Lazily stretching its long and powerful, not to mention stiff, legs and let out a yawn that would have most humans clutching their ears in pain, the great beast sensed that his container fell asleep even though the sun had not yet reached the horizon. The beast knows this because when its container's subconscious takes over or its emotions skyrocket, it can vaguely sense the surroundings through its host's senses.

The problem however is that his host would not willing fall asleep in the middle of a restaurant. The boy had slept in some weird places before and even been knocked unconscious once by an organized mob that had momentarily weakened the seal…

"_That was fun night,"_ the kyuubi thought as a side note. The seal had weakened enough to him control the body long enough to mortally injure a villager and make some fun adjustments to his host's body. Nothing major, just some adjustments to the boy's libido that most women would thank him for. He made similar adjustments to his other hosts bodies. The immortal, genderless, and fleshless beast did this to all his hosts because humans can do one thing that he and his brethren cannot, sex. It is the only upside to being imprisoned.

His previous host, Kushina who is its current host's mother, had even made a deal to have her husband modified as well. The parasitic entity named the Kyuubi hated its former host's husband and current one's father, but it not could pass up the opportunity to feel even greater pleasure from its host.

…but the boy had never fallen asleep in potentially dangerous places like a restaurant, not with just about the entire civilian population hating his guts. What happened next surprised even the immortal beast that had seen just about every facet of human emotion. Instead of attacking his host, he picked the boy up and fled from Konoha. That was not the surprising part because any other organization, country, or village would want a jinchuuriki for themselves. No, the surprising part was that the attacker wept in a way that donated love, an emotion that the Kyuubi had seen very rarely from any human.

Using one of its more unique abilities even amongst his brethren, the ancient beast used its emphatic sensing ability to feel this emotion correctly. It is this emotion that so thoroughly peaks the beast's interest.

The ancient being was created when its progenitor was split into nine parts by his 'Father', and because of the splitting, each of the nine inherited one base emotion that they and they alone felt. Together they made up the entire human emotional range, and the Kyuubi's emotion just so happens to be love.

But this love just so happened to be warped and twisted by the cruel mistress that is time into something dark and disgusting, hatred. Its hatred had entrenched itself so deep that the ancient beast took pleasure in the suffering of others.

But the emotion it sensed from this human lit a spark in a long dead fireplace, so the beast watched and waited instead of trying to force itself through the seal in his host's weakened state.

After an hour of waiting, the ancient being felt something that his 'Father' could not even begin to understand. Oh, he knew why it started, but he could never explain why it occurred except with half-baked theories.

The portals started to open the same day that he split the progenitor in nine parts. They were an unexpected side effect of his actions that day. His theory was that the Juubi is so integral to the fabric of this universe that without it minor tears in the fabric of space and time began to occur.

The sage watched and waited for several years to make sure that these tears never become too problematic, but these tears always closed within an hour of opening. He was too afraid of them to ever step through them because the tears are made up of something so similar to chakra, but fundamentally different in nature.

As soon as the Kyuubi felt this odd occurrence, he knew what was going to happen. He wanted to rebel against the seal, but his curious side had been peaked. So he allowed this man to throw his host across the tear of space and time.

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The day started off like any other day for Naruto. Wake up at six in the morning because his nightmares wake him up.

The nightmares are never easy to understand, but they are always the same. They start off with him in the park, or he least he thinks they start off in the park. Naruto can never really recall too much about the beginnings of the dream.

From there, they spiral downwards in terms of terror. Dark silhouettes with red eyes watch him from every direction that soon creeps up on him. They box the young boy in and brandish sharp knives and large stones. At this point, the dream becomes foggy at best and the feeling of terror detaches almost. Naruto believes that this fog somehow makes the feeling of horror go away.

Still the nightmares are terrifying to the young boy because while young, the boy instinctively knows that the scene will not play out very nicely without the fog stopping it.

Anyways, what to do at six o'clock in the morning was the question that Naruto asked himself every morning. Why make a lot of noise of course, and that is exactly what Naruto does.

No one ever complains. The young boy lives alone in an apartment by himself with only a care taker that comes every Monday to do laundry and make a few meals for the rest of the week. He lives in an apartment one step up from abandoned, so he has little to no neighbors.

After playing and making noise for several hours, Naruto feels the need to eat, so he heads to his favorite ramen stand for lunch. Once there, he finds the man that changes his life.

The stand was rarely ever populated with people, and when it is, they tend to sit as far away as possible. To Naruto's great surprise this is not the case because the aging man immediately says, "Hey kid you want some ramen?"

He would never know the extent to which that one question would endear Naruto to him.

The two had a great time laughing and talking, so much so that Naruto never wanted this lunch time meal to end. The blond is further surprised when the man pays the bill for both of them, which is quite substantial, before asking if Naruto wanted to go some ice cream for dessert.

Naruto nods his head so fast that he nearly flings it off his shoulders.

That was when Jiraiya found Naruto's second greatest love.

The day just keeps getting better and better for Naruto. First, he gets free ramen then he gets ice cream too. Nothing could ruin this day, not even if he someone told him he had a gigantic rampaging demon fox that wants nothing more than to kill every human on earth sealed inside his belly. Yeah not even that could break his mood.

The highlight of his day was when his new tou-san took him to fancy restaurant for a fancy dinner with food that to die for.

Not everything can last though, because as the blond sits up from the table to leave the restaurant, he feels a sting in his neck and then nothing.

XXXXXX

He woke to pain.

Naruto had always known pain. Maybe not in the physical sense, but the emptiness in his heart causes a lot lonely and grief filled nights.

This however is not even close to that kind of pain. No, this is so much worse. The words to describe this kind of pain cannot be found by even a master of literature or a linguist.

The closest synonym to this kind of pain would be a thousand needles assaulting every inch of his body laced with a poison designed to cause pain times a thousand. An eternity passes before the pain begins to fade.

Naruto is grateful that the pain finally ceases across his entire body and moves solely to his stomach. He however expresses such gratitude far too soon, because the pain in his stomach takes the combined suffering of his body and localizes it.

It feels like someone is reaching inside his body with an invisible hand with claws and tearing at his insides. Naruto could hear a sudden tearing sound, and he uses what little strength he has to move his neck to look at his abdomen.

He immediately wishes he had not. He sees a face, but not a human one. This face had distinctive lupine characteristics. As the head slowly moves away from his abdomen, it grows exponentially, and soon a body follows.

Once the…tails finishes leaving his body, the fox turns around and lets out an impossible human sounding demonic laugh before saying with glee, "See you later boy."

To his great relief, the pain stops once the fox leaves, and his fear also leaves as well. For a moment, Naruto thought that the enormous creature would eat him.

To his great dismay, the pain begins again this time starting in the small of his back. The pain however is greatly diminished and feels more like someone is pushing a pen against his insides towards the direction of his stomach.

Despite the pain being far less severe, his weary body can take no more, and he falls into unconsciousness. He never felt the pain from his wood lacrima activating and fusing with his chakra veins and magic core.

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Jiraiya let out a small sob.

He had done it; he threw his grandson across a life threatening portal to kami knows where not even knowing if he could survive.

But there is nothing he could do know, because the portal immediately collapsed after he threw his grandson into the portal, which is strange, because the portal should have another ten minutes or so before closing.

"Jiraiya, what have you done?" asked a voice behind the silver haired man that he knew to belong to his onetime sensei.

Jiraiya let another small sob before answering, "I-I threw my grandson across a space and time portal to another world, so that he could have a life without misery."

"YOUR WHAT?" Hiruzen asked with incredibility. "Wait portal to another world?"

"Minato was not my like my son; he was my son," Jiraiya said in a whisper as he turned around, "Sending Naruto across this thing was the only way to make sure that he could live a happy life."

Rubbing his head with his hand, Hiruzen struggled with a response before finally saying, "There has to be consequences for this Jiraiya. The elders and the clan heads will be in an uproar over this loss of power. This will not be some slap on the wrist, but you already know that don't you my boy."

Jiraiya dropped to his knees in resignation before saying, "I had to. It had to get him out of the village. He would not have survived…"

Jiraiya suddenly stops mid-sentence because of an overbearing weight of chakra pressing down on his shoulders. He turns back around to look the portal, and he wishes he had never even thought about this stupid idea, not the saving his grandson thing but the portal.

There in all of its infamy, stood the Kyuubi climbing out of the opening.

They knew Naruto had died because of the extraction, but the sight of the walking natural disaster standing before them with a sinister look in eyes forces that thought to the background. The only thing they could think of is resealing this thing and hopefully living through the ordeal.

As the great beast lowers its head towards the aging man that had thrown his host across the tear, it smells the distinctive smell of urine coming from one or two of the masked men, ANBU, behind the silver head. The beast smiles to show off its teeth which cause everyone else to wet their pants.

Having finished with its fun, Kyuubi says in his most devilish voice, "Thanks for freeing me mortal. Now I can DESTROY the world. BAHAHAHAHAHA," so maybe he had not finished having some fun with the mortals. After living close to ten thousand years, you learn to get your kicks when you can.

In a stunning feat of stupidity or bravery the Kyuubi could not tell which, the silver head keeps everyone from attacking at that statement and asks, "Did my grandson make it?" He actually managed to say that without stuttering or quivering but with absolute resolve. The Kyuubi is impressed with his determination at both standing up to him and his love for his former host.

The ancient beast with nine tails quickly debates to make him suffer in grief and guilt before deciding the man gets to know the truth. It is a tough decision though, and the beast would have swung the other way had the man not freed him by accident.

"That portal defies all rules and laws that define chakra and physics, so much so that it partially fused us together while simultaneously splitting us apart. If he survives the pain, he should make it through the final stages of the tear and beyond." The Kyuubi says this in such a sad voice that disturbs everyone out just a bit.

Jiraiya lets out a small 'thank kami' that only the Kyuubi hears.

In all of his life, the ancient beast had yet to see a man so thoroughly committed to seeing a person live even though it would condemn him. His actions and emotions greatly confuse the beast. He did not know what to do.

On the one hand, Kyuubi really wants to kill everyone standing before him, but this man's emotions and resolve are stopping that desire completely, so he takes the third option.

In a completely serious voice, Kyuubi says, "I will make a deal with you. If you and your people never come looking for me again, I will make a promise on my Father's grave that I will never touch your village or any others in the Land of Fire. But should you fail to obey this condition, I will come to your village and rain fire and brimstone upon your heads." The last sentence his voice changes from serious to gleeful.

Everyone's jaws suddenly fly open with open shock including Jiraiya's and Hiruzen's. They had never seen or heard of the Kyuubi being so…accommodating before except for that one incident with Minato suddenly having a Pringles can stuffed down his pants.

With reluctance, Hiruzen sees the wisdom of letting the Kyuubi go. They did not have the man power to reseal the beast, and with his advanced age, Hiruzen would probably not survive the fight leaving Konoha leaderless in a still restless time with only possible candidate being Danzo. As such, Hiruzen walks up towards the Kyuubi' eye and says, "We accept, but we have a condition as well."

The Kyuubi had never had this happen before, and he is genuinely curious to his condition so he does not immediately kill them. "Out with it then, so little time and so much destruction to cause."

"The condition is simple, take Jiraiya with you."

"WHAT?" they both say at the same time.

"Jiraiya, the council will call for your head as soon as we get back, and I will have to oblige them. Kyuubi, you may not see it, but I do. You need someone to help keep you sane." That last part is total bull crap.

"Now just hold on a minute sensei, I can easily…"

"I accept," the Kyuubi suddenly says.

"WHAT?" this time it is just Jiraiya being shocked.

Jiriaya tries to get some more words in, but suddenly the Kyuubi evaporates to become chakra smoke before swirling around Jiraiya's body. The red chakra closes in on Jiraiya's body and in a few minutes, the smoke is gone completely absorbed by Jiraiya's body.

Everyone's eyes bug out at the sight.

"What just happened?" Hiruzen asks with incredibility.

Jiraiya opens his mouth to speak but Kyuubi's voice comes out, "We did a parasitic merge. I can leave his body at any time without damage, but he gets none of the side effects of a normal jinchuuriki. Jiraiya also has full control over his body. I am just along for the ride."

Jiraiya's mouth moves again but this time it is his voice that comes out and a little angry as well, "I never agreed to this."

"You do not have choice in the matter. I choose when to leave. Also because of this merge, Konoha can never come after you without breaking our deal."

"How come you have never done this before?" Hiruzen asks.

"In order for me to do this, I have to enter a binding agreement with the person or a party that represents that person and how many people would willing go along with this. Since you are Jiraiya's leader, you can speak for him."

Hiruzen nods his head in agreement and silent wonder.

"Now get a move on human. I want to feel sex from a real human's body not just after shocks."

With indignation, Jiraiya says, "Do not order me around…wait did you say sex."

"Yes."

"Well I have a lot to teach you then. What do you want experience first a blow job or anal sex as I am sure that Kushina never gave Minato either of those."

With such a hard choice to make it takes the Kyuubi a while to answer, "…I want the blow job first."

"The first and every round is on my body my friend," Jiraiya laughs into the night as he walks away.

Hiruzen shakes his head at his student and thinks, _"What have I unleashed unto the world?_" He then yells out to his ANBU behind him, "Everything that just happened here is classified above S-rank, got that."

The ANBU nod their heads in acceptance. Besides who would believe their story even in a world where people can walk on walls and breath fire.

XXXXXX

In another world and six years later.

"Hi, you can call me Naruto of the Forest."

"Nice to meet you Leafy, my name is Erza Scarlet.

**I tried to get every piece of grammatical error removed, but I am sure that I missed some.**

**If you cannot tell, the only character that I am keeping around from Naruto's universe is Naruto himself. The only exception might be something like Jiraiya's case where they are originally from fairy tail and go to the elemental nations. **

**There was not much fairy tail in this chapter because I did not want to leave the Naruto universe unfinished. It would just distract my brain from the real focus. Also do not dig too deep into the whole kyuubi parasitic merge thing. It came to me as a whim, and I mean it to be whimsical. **

**I should mention that with my heavy amount of innuendos that will not be any lemons of any kind in this story. There can and will be less than fully clothed characters, I am looking at you Gray, at some points but there will not be any graphic scenes. As such there will not be a harem because there is no point in having a harem without having lemons.**

**Naruto will come across OOC because honestly I hate his overly goofy personality but like his more serious qualities. **

**I love the fairy tail universe, but the one thing about it that I hate is that it has no end game in mind. I mean Naruto has Akatsuki, Bleach had Aizen, One Piece has the final treasure. So I am making one. I have a rough idea of what I want to do, but we will see. It will not be something completely out there and have no context from the story. It will probably have something to do with the whole demon arc thing going on right now, but we will see.**


	2. New World

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail**

"Normal talking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Yelling/Magic"**

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Published: 6/3/2014

Edited: 7/11/2014

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Deep in the forest of the Ancient Elders, a growl can be heard, the origin a young boy's stomach.

It had been a particularly bad night of hunting for him. The large moon, which hangs in the sky that on some nights bathes the dark side of the planet with an eerie light, had fled from the night sky. The young boy had learned over the course of his short life that the easiest prey comes out at night when its natural predators prowl during the day looking for them when they rest. He learned to listen the animal's cries during the night to estimate the animal's location then pinpoint the meat's location using the eerie light from the night sky. The problem was that the pale light from the largest and nearest celestial body had been absent the previous night.

This night of lackluster hunting hinders the boy's eating schedule little.

He had learned over the course of his years secluded in the forest to predict when the lean times of the coldest months approach. As such, the boy had stockpiled a decent amount of food through various means in the past few weeks, but should this night happen many more times, he would be forced to deal with…humans.

In the past, the boy had some rather nasty dealings with his own species.

His home village that abandoned and forsaken him had brutalized him in many ways. Thankfully, they always stopped right before they used his then small and fragile body as little more than a common street whore. A long time ago he wished to see what lay beyond the fog that interrupted his dreams, but now that he has, he just wants them to stop.

In truth, he feels more pain from knowing that they had a man play the part of the thing he most desired before stripping it away. To feel the elation of happiness and the life fulfilling emotion of love only then to rip out of his grasp like a tightly wrapped bandage on a still open wound, the boy will forever despise his home village until the day he dies.

His second deep seated dislike of his own kind began the day he was abandoned.

Waking up in a middle of an unknown forest with nothing but the scraps of linen that he called clothes took a little bit of an adjustment, but he has always been a survivor. He looked for his old village not out of a sense of love but out of fear. He feared being outside the village walls far more the demons inside.

He never did find his village, but he did find a road. Figuring that his best bet was to follow it he continued walking in one direction hoping to find something of familiarity, no such luck.

The boy instead found something far more sinister than his home village, a group of bandits. His then young mind could not comprehend what truly occurred around him during the three days that he was held in captivity. The things he saw would cause most men to fall ill with unyielding rage and the women to suffocate their children in the safety of their bosom.

Being brought up without parents to teach him right from wrong and acceptable from unacceptable, he knew not of the horror of what happened; however, he knew instinctively that the deeds occurring before his eyes should never be spoken of.

On the third day of his captivity, he saw a young gild with white hair not much younger than him staring at her dead mother's body. She was not crying or doing much of anything just staring at her mother's corpse. In those moments while the boy was looking at the young white haired girl, an eternity passed in the span of few moments. A single tear falling broke the spell.

He had seen many people cry before and most of the times he was the one doing it, but this single tear comprised of water from a girl's eye set a light the biggest, most ferocious flame of rage he had ever conjured before in his life.

Walking over to the wooden beams of the cage their captors had locked them in, he summoned every ounce of rage in his arsenal to pull apart the beams, but as soon as his hands touched the wooden beams, they moved of their own accord to bend to their master's will.

Everyone looked upon with open shock before it turned to amazement before hope. Trying to pull one more rabbit out of his hat, the boy placed his hands the floor. The carriage lurched to a stop that sent many captives flying through the cage.

The captors swarmed like platelets to an open wound hoping to close it before their slaves fled. They drew their swords in a show of strength, but the boy unfettered by such mere acts of mortals raised his hands not bothering to touch his own weapon merely thought 'kill them'.

The nearby trees that had roots that stretched for miles rose from the ground with a fury to do their master's wishes. They split and merged dozens of times to completely surround the boy's tormentors before striking like a serpent. The captors tried to fend off the roots of the grand and majestic trees, but their hardened steel could not cut through the roots where it mattered. Before long, the roots had pierced them all with lethal efficiency and grace.

The boy lowered his arms and the roots sunk into the ground taking their fresh kill with them. Not a trace of them was left except for a couple of red blood pools.

The boy turned around and saw the look of horror drawn upon his former companions in captivity. He did not care what they thought of him now, not when he had the power to kill them all. Still, they shared his pain and then some. He offered them a deal, "Leave now with only the clothes on your back, and no more blood will be spilled this day."

Gripped with fear, no one moved. The young girl, whose single tear set this how chain of events in motion, stood up and walked over to the hole in the cage. She glanced at her savior's face before jumping out and walking away.

Embolden by the girl's display, the remaining humans on his carriage fled down the road in search of what they almost lost.

It has been an untold number of years since that day and it has been at least two since he has seen another of his species, but the rage and anger still burns in his heart.

Still the solitude of the forest had done much to cool the blazing inferno of his heart, but not enough to make him desire to approach another of his kind.

He would have to make the long journey out of the forest to the human village if his food supply dwindled too much though. He loathes doing so because the nearest village was a week away at least and dealing with the merchants and traders there left a bad taste in his mouth, quite literally. They preserved their food items with unnatural things that always left a repulsive aftertaste.

But with the choice between dying to keep his ways and living with compromises, he will choose life.

At the moment, the boy requires food and rest after a long night of hunting.

Coming into his small clearing, he notes something is off but as to what this something is baffles him. The old horse carriage he uses as sleeping quarters and storage room still has all the vines wrapped around it in a crushing embrace, not unlike a human trying to hold another from escaping, though only the front half still remains. The boy used the trees branches and roots to tear the back cage from the front passenger section.

The boy could not find it in his heart to keep something around that had once been used to imprison him.

The couple of extra wooden crates with tarps inside for catching rain water lies next to the withered carriage untouched…or are they.

Inspecting them further, he notes that the water level of one of them is significantly lower than the others. A wild animal could have wondered into the clearing during the middle of the night. It is a distinct possibility because an occasional bison deer will occasionally do so. It is always so much easier when the prey comes to the hunter.

The boy however is not satisfied with this answer, so he stays keeps his knees bent and brandishes his incredibly sharp oak spear up and ready for battle.

Turning the carriage's brass door knob clockwise ever so slowly to not alert intruders, the young boy creeps inside.

Earlier in his short life, the boy had tried experimenting with his powers over wood. He learned that he could make something grow from sand and barren soil. Also, he found out that he could make a tree seed appear from nowhere, though it exhausted him greatly. The most useful thing the boy had figured out was he could alter some aspects of the trees around him.

Inside the carriage, he altered the vines to produce light. The boy does not know that it is called bioluminescence; all he knows is that in low light the vines produce a very gentle light enough to see should something wake him up during the middle of the night.

Altered vines are not the only thing inside in the passenger section. A young human girl lies on his flower bed. That is another useful alteration he had created.

The flower is oval shaped with the middle part being far softer than the cold hard ground or the dead and splintering wood of the carriage. He cannot control any wood that has died, and he cannot control the wood to a great enough extent to make a bed not lumpy. The flower bed however is far superior to both because it is soft and comfy and the petals can close around the sleeper. The petals also give off a small bit of luminescence and trap in warmth.

And it looks like the human girl is greatly enjoying his creation almost as much as its maker.

Relaxing enough to run his hand through his hair as a sign of annoyance, the boy struggles to come up with an appropriate idea.

"_Should I let her sleep?," _thinks the young hunter,_ "or should I wake her up and tell her to leave…this is my territory and she has no right to trespass, plus I am tired and want my flower."_

Tired, but not tired enough to avoid a conflict, the boy uses the non-pointy side of his spear to nudge the girl ever so slightly before quickly flipping the spear around in case of an attack.

With a loud yawn, the girl forces open her heavy eyelids to look at what poked her. She immediately comes face to face with a very large wooden spear. The girl does the only thing she knows how to do in this situation; she screams loudly.

The boy immediately reacts. Anyone watching could have mistaken his left hand for lighting because his hand moved so quickly. Stunned not so much as the force behind it but the action itself, the girl stops screaming only then to bit his hand.

Wincing, the boy retracts his hand just as fast. _"This girl has courage…or just plain stupid. I am the one here with the weapon." _When the girl looks like she going to scream, the boy thrusts his spear so that the tip of the weapon lies directly on her throat.

"Do not scream again," the boy said with annoyance.

"I will scream if I want to…" she would have continued in her defiant tone, but the spear pushes a little deeper into her throat. She tries to inch away, but the petals from the flower restrict her movement completely. She squirms harder, but the petals hold her tightly.

Not being capable of movement, the girl decides to take a better look at her latest captor. He is young, a boy really not much older than herself, probably twelve. He has all the defining features of a human, two arms and two legs, but his coloring is completely off along with some more animalistic qualities. He has a vibrant forest green hair color that is jagged in some places, probably from cutting it himself, and ruby red eyes. His pupils however are silted like an animal and he has three parallel scars or birthmarks on each cheek that give him the appearance of having whiskers.

He wears only leather pants that are probably made from some kind of animals hide with leather socks/shoes. He also has a wood knife holstered at his side. Without his shirt if he even wears one, she can note that he has no baby fat on him…if she knew what baby fat looks like. The various scars on his body contrast against his bronzed skin.

He holds his spear in a position to thrust it at a moment's notice which means startling him may not be a good idea. For some strange reason, he has his left hand empty but raised to about shoulder level and bent at the elbow. One of his fingers twitch, and the petals squeeze loosely for a moment before going back to their original level of restrictiveness.

"_H-He controls the thing I was sleeping on…I am so screwed," _she thinks to herself, _"better obey him for now."_

"Why cannot I scream?" she asks in the same submissive voice she used back with her old captors.

"Do you want every bloody damn predator in the forest converging on our location," he answered with a question but his matter of fact tone implied otherwise. He does note her suddenly submissive voice.

"_At least he is not out to kill me,"_ she thinks and replies back with, "Ohhhh…well that makes sense I guess."

"I hope it…" he does not finish that statement. He steps back over to the door and uses his left hand to open a small rectangular viewing hole to peer outside.

The bioluminescent vines stop giving off their glow once the opening is created. She wonders why before climbing out of the flower bed and takes the few steps over to the door as well.

The boy suddenly curses in whispered tone, "Dammit."

"What…"

His hand clamps around her mouth again. She debates biting his hand again, but he holds up his finger to his mouth. Getting the message, she nods her head.

"Can I see?" she whispers once he removes his dirt covered hand.

Stepping aside, the girl steps up to the viewing window, allowing the boy to have a good look at her as she looks outside.

She is younger than him but not by much, mostly likely eleven. She is skinny and frail and not the good kind; she looks like she had been starved by someone. Her red hair reaches her shoulders and a caramel brown eye. He notes that unlike him and like everyone else he has met, she has a normal pupil and no scars running along her face. She does however have only one eye uncovered with the other bandaged up. The boy would bet half of his stored food that she has nothing underneath that bandage and that she lost it by someone torturing her.

He knows someone abused her in some way. Her dress is ripped, thankfully in non-revealing places, predominantly on her back. The openings in her dress allow him to see down her back to her ass, and he sees nothing covering it. On her back, she has a pretty nasty wound.

"_Great, she probably bled all over my flower."_

While the boy is examining her, the girl however is looking outside. What she sees terrifies her.

Last night while the boy was hunting, she had been running for her life from this giant boar the size of an extremely large human. It chased her all through the night. She got away from it several times, but the beast always found her. She finally escaped it by having it run straight into a large tree with a radius of a fully grown person. Its tusks had effectively trapped the beast. She had not bothered to kill the thing because she had abandoned her sword after she realized that its weight burdened her already weak legs. She had stumbled upon this boy's carriage by accident.

"That is the thing that chased me all during the night."

"That is why a giant Hard Boar came all this way," the boy next to her said in an understanding tone.

"What is a hard boar," she asks confused.

"Look at its fur," he said. Looking at it, she noted nothing of importance the thing difference is its color difference from regular boars, black instead of brown.

"All I see is a really big pig with ginormous tusks that almost skewered me last night."

"Well…that is true," he said, "but look more closely at its fur."

The girl took another glance it fur with a more piercing gaze. All she could find in its…_ "Oh"_

"That is not fur but super strong needles. The thing is like a mix between a porcupine and boar. The pigs's sweat coats those needles and acts like a paralytic poison."

"That thing is…"

He finishes her sentence for her, "dangerous, yeah. That creature and few others are the reason why I travel and hunt at night."

"Will it eventually go away," she asks with some amount of fear in her voice. Without armor or a sword with her, she feels naked.

"Not with that nasty wound on your back he isn't," the boy sighed at her confused look, "the thing smells blood which to a wild animal means…"

He let the unfinished sentence hang in the air allowing her to finish in her head, _"food."_

"Exactly," he says as if reading her mind, "and if I was stupid I would push you out this door and let the thing eat you."

The girl got a really fearful expression on her face before taking a step back.

The boy got a smug look on his face as though he just made a funny, "But if I did that, the thing might keep coming back here looking for more free handouts."

The girl let out a small sigh of relief. Seeing her face, the boy let out a small silent laugh before adopting a more serious face, "Besides, I hate humans and I would never stoop to their level."

The girl wondered what he meant by that but he is already looking out the window by the time she wants to ask her question, and considering the situation, she decides to let it go for the moment.

"What are we going to…" she never finished because he already left the safety of the passenger section.

Bursting out of the door, the boy calls for the roots to ensnare the wild boar by wrapping themselves across its back pinning it to the ground. Brandishing his spear, the boy takes a step before throwing it with all of his might.

The weak point of any Hard Boar is not underneath its body where most animals would be, but its eyes are the beast's weakest point. The boar however is not a dim witted beast, but it has some intelligence. Thus, the beast starts thrashing around in its prison struggling to escape. This thrashing causes the sharp wooden spear to miss its intended target, the eye, and instead bounces off the beast slightly to the left of its left eye.

Charging straight ahead without hesitation, the boy calls out **Wood Spear**. A root from a tree rises from the ground and forms itself into a very sharp spear that could pierce bone. As he runs, the boy reaches out with this right hand to grasp the spear, tearing the spear from the roots.

The boar however had been idle in those few seconds. It had removed the last of the mighty roots from the ground and saw its attacker. Like any predator of the forest, the beast became enraged with someone attacking itself. It paws at the ground a couple of times before charging at the funny shaped creature.

Just as the two reach each other, the boy uses another magic spell, **Force Magic: Jump**. Channeling magic to his legs, the boy well jumps high into the air and flips his body so that he is parallel to the ground.

He throws his second spear, but the spear misses again from both him and the target moving at the same time despite being far closer than last time. Landing on the ground on all fours, the green haired boy creates another spear.

Seeing its attacker suddenly disappear confuses the quilled boar, but it suddenly feels another sting on its face. It sniffs the air, but all it smells is blood from injured prey. Combined with its terrible eyesight, the animal cannot discern where its true enemy lays. Because of this, the boar only sees a funny shaped creature right in front of weirdly shaped tree.

The beast charges towards the funny creature, and if the beast a little more intelligence it would not that the funny creature's hair color change.

As the boar runs forward, the red eyed boy yells out, "Climb the carriage," before throwing his third spear in a futile attempt to distract the boar.

With fear in her eyes, the girl sees the beast running at her, and if she had a weapon, she would have attacked. However without one, she quickly climbs the carriage by grabbing at the vines and roots wrapped around it. She never makes it to the top though.

The boar smashes through the carriage and crates all the way to the back where the food is stored. The force from the impact however sends the young girl flying through the air before landing on the ground with a dull thud.

The boar tries to remove itself from the wreckage, but it smells more meat further back so it moves forward instead after a few moments. The boy however quickly runs up the girl lying still in the middle of the clearing.

Slapping her face lightly in an attempt to wake her up, the boy yells out, "Come on wake up. WAKE UP. The boar it is so strong for me to take head on. We have to leave." The boy seeing that she is not coming around checks her breathing. With a small sigh, he notes her breathing is fine but shallow. He makes a move to carry her, but the girl is far heavier than she appears. With a top of the food chain predator around, using magic to make the roots or his muscles carry her is unwise.

Creating a fourth wooden spear, the boy stands up and says to no one in particular, "If I die because of this Red…well I will blame you."

In those few minutes that the boy tried to wake up the girl, the boar finishes eating all the remaining food and frees itself from the wreckage from the carriage. It turns around not expecting to still see its funny looking prey least of all two of them. Regardless, the boar snorts and paws at the ground before charging.

As the boar charged and even before that, the boy struggles to come up with a solution that does not end up with both him and the girl pig food. The only thing that could work is stupid, but it is his best shot.

He drops the spear and raises his hands and spreads his legs to prepare for stopping the animal. Just as the boar is within striking distance, the boy channels a considerable amount of magic into the ground and to his hands as well. He calls out **Wood Magic: Eternal Binding Roots **and **Force Magic: Forward Momentum**.

Roots from the ground wrap around the boy's legs in the span of a second while he simultaneously uses his back muscles to propel only his upper body forward. The boy catches the pig's tusks with his bare hands. The combination between these two spells creates enough downward and forward force to keep him planted on the ground unmoving. The boar barely makes him move an inch.

This part is not the problem, because the young boy was fairly certain it would work, but now he has no finisher. Sure he could have caught the pig's tusks earlier, but just like then he has no way of finishing off the boar. He also could have thrown his spear again, but the pig would have just dodged again. He could try to use the roots to pierce the creature's eyes, but maintaining two spells at the same time is already draining on both the mental and magic level.

No, as much as he hated to admit it; he needs help. The help from the girl right behind him.

With what little remains of his strength, he yells out, "Red…RED…**RED**. Damn you. You bring all this trouble to my peaceful life, and all you do is just lie there. Come on, where is that earlier courage? Where is that same defiant girl I met back in the carriage? WAKE UP **RED**." He keeps raising his voice in some vain attempt to get the damn girl to wake up. He yells over and over again.

Just as he is about to run out of magic, a spear appears over his shoulder and impales the boar in its right eye. The pig squeals in pain, and it tries to pull back. The boy however keeps the boar in place despite its disgusting breath blowing on his face and tongue licking up and down his body. The twists the spear counterclockwise and the pig lets out one last squeal before collapsing to the ground with a loud thud.

With the predator died, the boy's magic level drops drastically causing the roots binding him to the ground to fall off him. This subsequently causes the boy to fall to the ground as well.

"Thanks for saving me," a timid voice behind him says.

Turning around and taking a gasp of air, the boy replies with a sincere smile, "Welcome…but I think that you save me just as much as I saved you, Red."

The girl nods her head in acceptance before gaining a questioning look on her face, "Why do you keep calling me Red."

"Well, I never did catch your name and with your hair being red and all that is just the first thing that popped into my mind."

"Oh," she says and rubs the back of her head.

The action would cause most boys thinking she looks adorable like that, but being secluded in a forest for several years makes the boy oblivious to such things.

"I guess we should fix that," she continues.

"Guess we should," he replies, "You can call me Naruto of the Forest."

"Nice to meet you leafy, my name is Erza Scarlet."

"Oi," he yells breaking his earlier rule about whispering, "My name isn't leafy. It is Naruto."

Adopting a really innocent tone she answers, "Well, your hair is green and your last name is Forest, so why not. Plus it is payback for calling me red."

Still slightly agitated he replies, "I could give you the exact same reasons only better because my last name does not mean leaf."

Shaking her hand at him in dismissal, "But the forest is made of trees which have leaves growing from them, so your name is Leafy."

"Oi, what did…" he suddenly stops before taking a deep breath. _"She is only doing it to get a reaction from me,"_ he tells himself before speaking again, "I know what brought the boar to my humble abode, but what made you come here?"

She got this really sad look on her face and did not say anything about it for a moment, "I-I…"

Tired of her stuttering, Naruto interrupts her, "Let me guess, it has something to do with your enslavement."

Erza's one good eye opens to near impossible levels and she asks in a really quiet voice, "How did you know."

She spoke so softly that the green haired boy almost missed it, but years from being in the forest had trained his ears to listen to even the most silent of sounds. "Let us see here. You have torn and tattered clothing that even street kids would not wear. You also have a pretty nasty wound on your back that has gone without treatment and looks to be about a week old. I am actually surprised you have lasted this long. Finally, you have only one eye, so all that leads me to believe you were either a slave with a bad master or your parents mistreated you. I simply picked enslavement because that is more likely."

Erza suddenly retreats back into herself both emotionally and physically. She looks like a turtle trying to get into its shell if that shell is broken and does not cover a good portion of her body.

"Look," the dual magic user says, "I did not mean to drag up bad memories, but I have a right to know where you are headed after you bringing this top of the food chain predator around."

She is silent for a long time, so much so that Naruto gets up and rummages through his destroyed carriage. When he finally comes back, he looks to be in a sour mood, so she stays quiet for even longer until she finally says, "Fairy Tail, I am headed towards Fairy Tail."

"Now…" he starts to speak, but she interrupts him.

"You are right. I was enslaved along with a lot of other good people, but there was one in particular that I will remember and cherish forever. He taught me about the outside world even though I was born in captivity," that causes Naruto to raise his eyebrows in surprise, "along with magic. When he told me about withes and wizards, I grabbed a nearby broom and pretended to fly around the room."

She let out a small laugh and despite the situation smiled a bit.

"That old man happened to be a part of this Fairy Tail I assume."

"That is right. He…He died to protect me when I made my escape…"

Naruto interrupts her, "Look Erza, you told me your reason, so I am satisfied, and you can stop if you want."

She shakes her head no, "I want to tell you. I feel weird telling you these things with you being a stranger and all."

"Well, I did just save your life, and you saved me, so I think the stranger barrier has been broken."

Erza let out a small giggle, "True but I want to tell you some things. I feel like the more I talk the more a weight comes off my shoulders."

"Well, I am all ears, and not just because I want to listen. I think the pig's saliva has some paralytic powers as well because my body feels numb."

She lets out another giggle, "Good to know I have such a captive audience. My earliest memory is of…"

The two and sit and talk for about an hour. Erza pours out her life without pause and without hesitation. Naruto pipes in every now and again with some funny comment that gets her to laugh. Erza does not tell him about…Jellal's betrayal, but everything else she tells him.

After the hour is up, Naruto says that the boar's body will attract attention from other predators. With no desire to face another animal so soon, Erza asks what to do now. The boy replies that right now they need to seal up that wound on her back, so that other animals cannot track them along with getting her clothes with less holes in them.

The two search the destroyed carriage for anything still usable. They find some green paste that Naruto assures Erza that it is medicine despite its foul odor. They also find an old dress that fits her fine from when the original owners bought and sold slaves. Some fruit is still usable, but all the meat has been eaten, soiled, or been covered with pig saliva.

They gather up all the remaining supplies in a pile and sit down to eat some fruit because neither one of them has eaten in several hours.

With their meal finished, Erza asks, "What are you going to do now?"

Naruto takes a bit of his apple and chews it slowly. He swallows it and answers with, "To be honest, I have no idea. I had three months of food stored in the back of that carriage. Winter approaches in a month, and I cannot get enough food to last me an entire the four or five months. I guess that I will have to go live in the nearby village until winter ends."

Erza got this really sad look on her face before it brightened considerably with a big smile, "Why don't you travel with me to Fairy Tail. You said that you would have to live in a village anyways, so why not come with me."

Naruto stops eating for a moment. _"I do have to go live in a village for a while, so why not. But that also means that I have to be in close contact with this…girl." _Naruto has a hard time calling her a human in a condemning way after all that they have gone through. _"Is that a bad thing though? Of course it is; she is…nice. She has yet to display a bad intention, so maybe just one more time I can put my faith in…my species."_

"Sure."

He does not know what happened. One moment he is sitting and the next she is on top of him with her arms around his neck. For a moment, he feels betrayed because he believes that Erza is attacking him. What shakes this belief however is that he feels no pain. They stay like this for a few seconds before she pulls back allowing them to sit up. She tilts her head at the odd expression on his face and what he says, "What are you doing?"

"It is a hug. Don't you know what a hug is?"

"No, I honestly thought you trying to hurt me for a moment."

She gets this really stunned expression on her face. _"I think I just found a reason he hates humans so much. I shared my life with him, so he will share his life with me…in time."_

"A hug is what people do when they are happy or sad."

"That makes no sense," he says as he pushes her off him. In that moment, he felt something that he could not identify, so he just pushes it aside. "Come on Red. The other predators are going to smell this fresh kill soon and Fairy Tail is a long way away."

"My name is not Red you dummy."

"What is a dummy?"

She huffs in annoyance before smiling, "Alright…Leafy."

"I told you my name is Naruto."

"Leafy, Leafy, Leafy, _Leafy,_" she says in sing along voice that deeply irritates Naruto.

"Oi, my names is Naruto."

"Leafy."

Naruto makes a move to strangle her, but he pulls his hands back. _"Scratch what I thought being nice."_

"Something the matter Leafy," she asks way to innocently.

"_Yes." _"No, but we need to get moving," he says as he walks away.

Following him, she says, "Okay Leafy."

"_This is going to be a long trip," _he thinks.

**Please review.**

**I was heavily tempted to not include their ages just to mess with you, but I felt that was overly mean. I was also tempted to stop just as they introduce themselves, but I am in giving mood. As such this is the information you want.**

_Year: X776 and Naruto and Erza are 12 and 11 respectively. For the people that do not know Erza's age which is 19 in cannon, this about eight years before hand._

**Let me remind you that it is still early in the story, so the pairings are not yet set. Erza has just as much chance as anyone else. The feeling that Naruto experiences but cannot identify is not sadness but…well it is sadness but not because he is love with her. Have you ever gone without someone touching you for even a few days? Try doing it. You start to feel depressed and sad. Naruto has gone years without being touched, not in the bad way you sickos.**

**I am merely using Erza as a way of introducing Naruto to the world without doing something silly or stupid. I have seen other writers use dragons and lisanna's death as a way to introduce him. Those are really good ways to do, but they are overused and I do not want to do something that someone has already used.**

**Force magic is my own creation. I will be explained in detail in the next or following chapter. **


	3. Love your Life, You Only Get One

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"_Thinking/extract from book"_

"**Yelling/Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 6/13/2014

Edited: 7/11/2014

XXXXXXX

They had been walking for hours. Well, walking is not the word Erza would use, but something more along the lines of crawling on two legs. Not to mention the amount of times they had suddenly switched directions. Erza believes that Naruto is just lost.

"_Seriously, we need to pick up the pace,"_ thinks Erza to herself, _"I am so tired." _While, she may have eaten only a few hours ago, she had gotten very little sleep from last night from the whole being chased throughout the forest thing.

After the whole giant pig incident and packing up any useful supplies, the duo had set off in some direction that Erza had assumed Fairy Tail. That later proves not to be the case when she realizes that Naruto does not have a map on him and from his earlier reaction he has no idea that Fairy Tail is even a guild. She would have to fix that when they stopped.

She would have asked him about where in the world they are going when she realized this, but he is not currently in front of her. About an hour or so ago, he had suddenly stopped and said something about 'stay here and follow the path and only the path when it appears'.

The red head waited for about fifteen minutes and after which she seriously thought he had dumped her in the middle of the forest. With all of his comments about humans, there is some merit to the thought, and the only thing keeping her rooted to her spot was his other statement about not stooping to their level.

So, she waited for another fifteen minutes before she just about screamed in the middle of the forest just to piss him off. Erza's anger can cloud her judgment sometimes. Just as she is about to scream her head off, the roots and vines along the forest floor split apart so that clear ground appears.

That happened thirty minutes ago. At least before this, she had Naruto right in front of her guiding her through this particularly dangerous forest if Naruto is too believed, but now she is just wandering through a forest along a path that could lead to nowhere. The thought of him abandoning her increases with every step she takes.

With her anger rising to near explosive levels, Erza makes a daring choice. She stops and turns to the left and puts one leg out of the path. Nothing happens, so she takes another and another. Soon, she is near base of a tall tree. Just as puts her right foot next to the trunk of the tree intending to climb it, she hears a clicking and a whooshing noise. Turning her head to the right, she comes face to face with her second spear of the day. She gulps.

"I thought I told you to stay on the path at all times," a voice comes from behind her that she knows to be her forest guide.

Taking a step back, she turns around to see Naruto with both of his arms stretched forward and palms open.

"T-Thanks for saving my life…again," the young girl says.

"I promised you I would take you to Fairy Tail dead or alive, but I really hope for the later because carrying seventy pounds of dead weight is quite taxing," he replies as he drops his arms which cause the spear trap to finish swinging through the air just with no one in the way.

"Hey"

"Hay is for horses. Now come on, we do not have much longer to walk."

Her anger quickly melts into happiness at his words of being almost there…wherever there is.

XXXXXX

One hour later

XXXXXX

"_Far to walk my ass," _Erza thinks to herself.

Still the trees keep getting thicker and the sounds of the forest are becoming quieter and quieter as though nothing more than a bad dream. She knows that they are almost there.

"We are here," Naruto says. After the trap incident, he had opted to stay beside Erza.

"Where is here?" she asks with some incredibility. "We are standing in the middle of nowhere."

Naruto just smiles and grabs a vine with one hand and offers his other one to the obnoxious girl. "Take my hand."

Erza huffs in annoyance, but ultimately, she grabs his hand.

She did not know what happened, one moment they are on the ground and the next they are literally flying through the air. She screams in fear that causes Naruto to laugh. Soon, they are standing on a branch of a very tall tree, and this branch has to be at least twenty feet around and its branches stretch for at least a couple hundred yards in either direction.

Looking over the edge, she asks with some amount of fear in her voice, "Where are we?" To be fair it is a long way down.

"This is where I grow my food and store my miscellaneous items," he says with a smug look on his face before turning around and walking away.

"Where are you going?"

"I am hungry," Naruto replies still with his back turned.

Wondering what is going, she races to catch up after one last look over the edge.

Catching up to him, she takes in the sight. The leaves from the tree block out any sunlight, and the branches go for miles. Finally, she asks, "How big is this tree?"

He pauses for a moment before walking agains, "I honestly have no idea the exact length, but I do know that you can see it more miles around."

"This place has to be safer than the ground, so how come you do not live up here?"

"You just answered your own question…at least in an odd way," he answers.

Eyebrows scrunching, Erza takes a moment to reflect on his answer. If he lives down there but this place is safer, so how come he does not live up here? Unless…

With a soft whisper, she asks, "This place is more dangerous than the ground."

"Yes," he replies in his normal voice not even bothering to whisper, "but only if you stay here for a long periods of time." He stops and looks around before pointing to his left.

Erza turns her head to look in that direction, but she sees nothing but a large flower pushing out a cloud of pollen. Not exactly an uncommon sight in this forest.

"Every environment has some kind of apex predator," he says causing Erza to look at him, "however unlike the predators down below, this places predators are plants."

Erza looks at him confused.

"Stay up here to long and that pollen will build up in your lungs…"

"You die because you cannot breath," she asks with some awe.

"Yep, but unless you breathe the air from right in front of the plants, it takes days to die from such a way. The perception of safety is this trees biggest weapon in gathering food."

Shaking her head, Erza is lucky she found someone to guide her through this forest otherwise she might of not made it out alive…or least it would have taken her far longer to get to Fairy Tail.

XXXXX

They walked a little further along the tree branch until they finally reached a spot where actual sunlight could be seen. In this spot, there are dozens of apple trees growing out of the branch they are standing on.

"This is where I grow my food," the green haired boy says.

Running up to one, Erza marvels at the wonder she is seeing. An entire tree is growing out of another entirely different tree. _"He must have used his magic to alter the base tree somehow to make it grow apples."_

Reaching up for an apple from one of the lower branches, she takes a small bit. The taste, oh the taste, it has the sweetness and smoothness of honey but all the bang of fireworks. Her taste buds are exploding in orgasms.

"This is amazing," she says.

"Really, I think they are not as good as regular apples…" he says, but stops when he realizes that she probably never had an apple before.

"What do you mean?" Erza asks acting completely oblivious to his statement but inside she feels slightly hurt by unintentional but callous statement.

Naruto internally lets out a small sigh when Erza misses his statement. He never understood why, but girls and insults do not mix very well. "That apple is fast grown."

Erza's eyebrows furrow in confusion again.

"Have you wondered why I grow food up here instead of on the ground?" he says after a moment to collect his thoughts.

Erza's eyebrows scrunch deeper as a sign of the gears in her mind working furiously to understand. _"Why does he come up here to grow food? From what I have seen he should not need an actual apple tree to begin with." _Finally, she asks, "Yeah, now that I think about it."

"Well, it stems from my magic's weakness."

"What weakness is that?" she asks with curiosity written on her face. Inside she smiles because of his openness.

Naruto however is thinking a little differently. _"If she intends to kill me, this serves as a way to show that I am opening up to her without actually giving away any of my weaknesses."_

He holds up his arm and to Erza's amazement a small tree begins to grow out of his arm. She makes a move to grab his arm to steady it for a better look, but he quickly retracts both the tree into his arm and the arm itself.

"I do not like to be touched," he says.

"_He does not like to be touched! Just how broken is he? At the tower, everyone hugged and touched each other either for warmth or for comfort." _she thinks to herself and pulls back her own arms to her side. "But I touched you earlier from when he hugged and when we grabbed hands."

"Those were different. Had I known that you were going to hug me, I would have stopped it, and the hand grabbing thing was so that you did suddenly fall to the ground from being startled otherwise I would have had you hold onto a vine."

"Oh" is the only response she can think of.

"Going back to my explanation, I can create trees from any part my body and anywhere in the world. Barren or frozen soil, it does not matter. Of course the tree that I create is always the type that naturally occurs in that particular area. I can even alter the tree slightly for my needs, like the flower bed and light producing vines; however, just because I can create that does not mean it is alive."

Erza's eyebrows furrow again which Naruto takes notice as her way of asking a question

Continuing he says, "Anything that I create only mimics the properties of what actually exists."

"So what does that mean?" she asks.

"It means that if I suddenly create an apple right now in the span of a second and then eat said apple; the apple will imitate a real one. The fake apple will taste similar and fill you up like a regular one, but all of the nutrients of a regular one will not be there."

"Alright just for clarification that means that what exactly?" she asks.

Letting out a small sigh at her questions, he finishes, "It means that if you eat one, you will feel full, but it will not generate any energy for your body."

"I get it now. I am guessing that this fast growing is not the normal pace of an apple, but some kind pace in between the two," she asks but comes off as more as a statement.

"Yep, it keeps most of the nutrients, but does not take nearly as long, only a few months at most," he says as picks his own apple and takes a bit.

"Why apples?"

"I haven't figured out how to make bananas, oranges, and grapples. I dislike pears, pineapples, and watermelon," he answers in a matter of fact tone.

The two sit for a while and enjoy some apples in the shade. Finally, Naruto stands up to make a flower bed. "Get some sleep Erza, we leave for Fairy Tail when the sun sets," he says.

"Hey you need some sleep too," she answers, "Cannot have my guide go dying on me because of lack of sleep."

Laughing a bit, Naruto says, "I need to go get some things from a supply cache over there."

"Like what?" she asks as she climbs into one of the flowers.

"A map of the country along with books and money because unless you want to spend a month walking to Fairy Tail, we need money for the train."

"Good point," she mumbles sleepily and pulling the petals over her face to block out the sun.

It takes Naruto a moment to locate his secret cache of items, but he remembers that he hide the items a hollow space in a trunk of an apple tree. Looking inside, it still has everything that he left inside including the things he told the red head about except for a photo of himself and the man he once considered as father. Turning the photo around, he sees the faded writing on the back in his native tongue. It says, 'Love your life Naruto, You only get one.'

He remembers when they took the picture at the ramen stand. It was his first bowl of ramen that was not on the house or he paid for. He found the photo in his pocket the day he found himself abandoned in the forest. In the picture, he still has blonde hair.

Naruto is not entirely sure what happened to change his appearance so drastically. The silted pupils, red irises, and green hair baffle him somewhat, but he guesses that they changed his looks for some cruel joke that only they are privy to.

Naruto hates the man he calls father with a burning passion for giving him hope for a better life then pulling it back fast like a carrot on a stick. Yet for all his justified anger, he could never bare to throw the photo away or burn it, but he cannot bring himself to keep it close. Putting everything into a burlap sack, he turns to go to his flower bed.

Naruto however does not immediately fall into his hastily made flower bed in exhaustion he instead sits on it and watches Erza sleep. He watches her snore and moan every fourth breath blocking out every other sound of the world around him. He narrows his perception down to her and her alone.

Sighing, Naruto thinks to himself, _"I hate you Erza. You come into my peaceful life away from humans and completely ruin it. My carriage is destroyed and my food eaten by a pig, yet I want to see you smile."_

Rubbing his hands through his hair in anger and frustration, he continues his mental rant, _"I don't what to do. I feel the need to kill you for complicating my life and nearly getting me killed, but the thought of actually carrying it out makes me fell ill."_

"…_Maybe you're my chance at a new life? I like my life just the way it is, but I don't know if I love it. Feeding for myself in one form or another has all I have ever known…I just need to see what else is out there for myself to see if I truly love my life…Yes, that is exactly what I need, and if I turn out to hate the outside world, I can always come back."_

With his mental struggle settled for the moment, he lies down on his back and pulls the petals over his eyes to block out the harsh sunlight.

XXXXXX

Six days later

XXXXXX

It had been a long week of travel for the unlikely duo. It took three and a half days to fully exit the Forest of Ancient Elders, and two and a half days to reach the nearby town.

The two are lucky that the town has a train depot. They are also lucky that the train prices have significantly dropped otherwise Naruto would have not have enough money to buy two tickets all the way to Magnolia, the town Fairy Tail is located in.

The two made their way onto the train with some difficulty. Every time someone pissed off Naruto he growled at them.

"Did you have to snarl at the conductor, he almost didn't let us on," Erza huffed in exasperation.

"He tried to use the intercom to call for our parents which we don't have, so it only would have made us miss our train," he counters in duh voice.

"Growling didn't help anything," she yells. She had been doing that a lot lately. Ever since leaving the forest, she had been putting her lungs to good use. Repressed usage Naruto guesses.

"You are right," Naruto concedes…for a moment, "showing him my fangs and claws was far more effective."

"You are incredible…"

"I know I am."

Her body desperately wants to scream at him some more, but her mind yells at her, _"Don't do anything he is just trying to get a rise out of you for all the times you called him leafy."_

So she sits there in defeat. _"Erza 0, Naruto 1," _the forest boy thinks to himself.

As the train lurches to movement, another passenger tries to come into their room. With the reduced prices, Naruto had sprung for the booth tickets and with meals included. Hey, when you are riding a train for three days, why not.

Anyways, as soon as the stuffy business man tries to step foot in their booth because Naruto couldn't afford to buy the entire booth, the green haired boy snarls and raises his hands in a threatening gesture. This gesture shows off his fangs and claws combined his animalistic birthmarks and silted pupils he makes quite the fearsome sight.

This action causes the business with the fancy suit to start sweating before taking a step out of the room. With a brisk pace, he walks away.

Despite herself, Erza has to laugh at the scene. Her infectious laugh soon has Naruto laughing as well. The laughter becomes more and more uncontrollable after Naruto hoots out in laughter "Did you see his face."

Struggling to speak, she answers, "Did you the wet spot on his pants."

Howling with laughter, Naruto drops to the floor hugging his side.

What makes it even funnier is when another stuffy business man tried to come, but he wet himself as well when Naruto bared his fangs.

It takes them several minutes to stop laughing so hard. The two sit in relative silence for a moment. Not the bad kind of silence but the good kind.

Erza brakes the silence with a question that has been bothering her for a while, "Naruto, how do you know magic. What I mean is how does a…forest hermit know two types of magic."

Naruto stays silent for a moment. He knew that she would eventually ask this question because she had asked it before back in the forest, but he neglected to answer because of the near constant danger around. Plus, he really did not want to answer the question.

Deciding it might just be better to answer with the truth rather than a lie, he replies, "The wood is instinctive. It just sort of happened one day."

With a confused face Erza asks, "That is odd. Most people's instinctive magic is a burst of telekinesis. Is your ability to extend your canines and nails instinctive as well?"

"All I know is that I can use wood magic both with and without conscious thought, and yes by channeling my magic to certain areas my body reacts in certain ways," he says before opening his mouth and channeling some magic to his canines. They extend slightly, maybe no more than a three eights of an inch. No where near long enough to do any serious damage anywhere on the human body except for a few places.

Pulling out a book, the boy struggles to continue to talk about his dark past. All he ever wanted to do was put his past behind him but something about this girl before him utterly disarms in such a way that he wants to put them down his weapons of defense.

Eventually, he decides to just say some things to get the nagging part of his brain to shut the hell up. It is totally not like an alcoholic taking a sip of wine. "I was not always a forest hermit…"Erza's cheeks turned a little red, "...for two years after my first use of magic, I lived in that nearby village as a street rat."

Erza frowns.

"I am not from around here per say," he says. What happens next thoroughly shocks Erza. He begins to speak in another language utterly foreign to hers. It sounds graceful in a way almost like singing but gruff at the same time. His accent while using it is very guttural so that is where the gruff part comes, but the flow of the language is very smooth.

He starts back into their shared tongue, "I lived there to understand the world along with it being a safer place for a six year old than a dangerous forest."

Voice brimming with curiosity, the red head asks, "Where do you come from?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. That is another reason I stayed in that village. I was hoping to find any mention of my home village which I did not find."

"So how did you end up here?"

Finding the point of where he takes up his weapons of defense from the painful questions that drag up old memories, Naruto says, "I know my second type of magic from this book." He dodged her question for two reasons, because he really did not feel like telling her he was an abandoned orphan and to answer her other question.

Taking the book from Naruto, Erza reads, "Magic for Dummies."

"I stole it from a bookstore."

Reading through the contents page, Erza is really happy that Rob-jiji taught her how to read. It looks like the first three chapters describe magic as a whole and the other twelve describe a certain type of magic with **Force **being the last chapter. Flipping it, she sees that it has like two pages dedicated to it rather than the twenty or so for every other chapter.

"It is a pretty interesting read," he says but it falls on death ears because Erza is already enthralled by able to read to openly. The guards had a zero percent tolerance for books in the tower.

XXXX

Extract from _Magic for Dummies_

XXXX

…_There are two types of magic, castor and holder. Castor magic comes from within the body, while holder type magic needs a conductor to use. Example, castor type wind magic needs nothing but the user himself to manipulate the air around him. Holder type wind magic needs a ring, necklace, or external item for the user to channel their magic through…_

…_Holder type magic is no more difficult than castor type magic. It only means that holder types need a little help with focusing their magic for a specific purpose outside their body. Castor types have the opposite problem. They have a hard type channeling their magic in their bodies for a specific purpose. Being a castor or holder does not mean being exclusive to one type of the other. Everyone that can use magic is a mixture of castor and holder to a varying degree…_

…_A person usually activates his or her magic after a dramatic experience though such an experience is not required. It usually occurs in the form of telekinesis for both types…_

…_Typically, a person can only use telekinesis on certain items. For example, a person may be capable of manipulating glass only when it is hot not cold. Another would be levitating metal, but only when it is shaped as a sword or axe rather than an earring or necklace…_

…_Instinctive magic does not necessarily have to be telekinesis but can be an entirely different type of magic entirely. When such a thing occurs, the user typically has a problem learning other types of magic because his magic is so closely attuned to his instinctive. Example, an instinctive fire mage will have a hard time making his magic manipulate earth…_

…_Moving away from the instinctive magic scenario, a wizard or witch will have his magic core become accustomed to using only a particular magic, meaning that each successive learned magic will make the next magic weaker. This is very hard to explain in words, but maybe this example will help._

_Imagine a wizard or witch having a magic core with a quantitated value of ten points. His first magic takes up five points. His second magic takes up three points. His fourth takes a point, while his fifth uses up half a point. The strength of the magic is determined by how many points it has…_

…_You may have noticed that almost every chapter I have written about has had at least a dozen pages, but this chapter has a meager two. The reason for this is as follows, it is the last of the basic type magic. Every magic is defined by how hard it is for the user to master. The earlier discussed __**Hair**__ magic is far easier to learn then say __**Fire**__ magic. Not to say it is weaker than __**Fire**__ magic, but it is by far easier to learn._

_**Force**__ magic is a basic type magic rather than say complex __**Fire **__magic; however, __**Force**__ magic has far more reaching side effects on the body than any other magic. Some side effects include thinning bones, unmoving muscles, snapping of tendons, blood clots, and in some cases paralysis. _

_I try not to define magic in terms of strength because in some situations __**Hair **__magic can be more powerful than __**Fire**__ magic, but __**Force **__is my one exception. It is by far the most powerful of all basic and some complex magic. _

_The thing about this type of magic is that the user can manipulate all forces, down to the smallest and fundamental types of forces. A skilled user can nullify the force a person puts onto moving a box across the floor. He can also increase or decrease gravity at will. Another example is making the force of electricity stop. _

_I cannot stress just how powerful this type of magic is; however, the last master of the magic died over fifty years ago from a brain tumor. Since then, the magic council has not banned the magic, but they frown on its use._

_There are two flavors of __**Force**__, inside the body and outside the body. Using the outside flavor is where the side effects start to occur in full force despite common sense saying otherwise. Inside is by far the safest, and thus the only flavor that I will teach in this book. I also teach only the basics of the inside type. If you can figure out more than I teach, I beg of you do not use without supervision._

_In order for __**Force **__magic to be used, a force defined by physics must first be acted upon the object. For example, a box sitting on a completely horizontal table has no left or right orientation only up and down. A force user can use his magic to levitate the box or increase its weight to shatter the table, but those are the only two options available. Change the tilt of the table to be five degrees or so, and still have the box at rest. The user can now slide the box all over the table because a force in the left and right direction has been introduced._

_Transferring this over to the inside flavor, your body has to be expressing some force directed in some direction. _

_Before I begin how to channel your magic to use __**Force**__, bear in mind that this is not manipulating work done by an object but the force. You do not need for the object to be moving, but merely a direction ready to be manipulated already existing. Example, you push on a wall. It does not move naturally, but with __**Force**__ it can be moved…_

XXXX

Erza cannot believe that Naruto had learned such a dangerous type of magic. Some of those side effects sound really crippling. She had confronted him about it on the train, but he just shrugged it off saying it is his body.

As the two walk the crowded streets of Fairy Tail, Erza could not help but be saddened by Naruto's eventual leaving. He had promised to bring her as far as Fairy Tail, and he will finish that task once they finish walking down this road.

Despite his arrogance, impatience, bossiness, and self-absorbed personality, Erza had enjoyed their time together. He had saved her life more than once, and she wants him around. After all that had transpired at the Tower, she did not want anyone else to leave her.

"_Maybe he doesn't have to, if what Rob-jiji said was true about Master Makarov then maybe he could help," _she thinks to herself.

So caught up in her internal musing that she does notice that are now standing at the entrance to the world renowned guild for destruction and mayhem while still staying a legal guild, somehow.

"I got you this far…" Naruto never got to finish because Erza suddenly reaches up and grabs his ear with some amount of force.

Pulling him by the ear Erza drags Naruto through the building towards the back towards the counter. The two are creating quite the spectacle.

With great restraint, Naruto does not slice Erza's arm. He just yells, "Erza let go," several times before stopping with, "Red this hurts a lot."

If that didn't work than nothing would. At this point, he trusted Erza enough to not kill him, and so his curiosity is peaked far more than his impulse to kill her.

As he is being dragged like a rag doll to bar counter, which he thinks in the final destination, he notices several people are looking at them strangely. Honestly, he cannot blame them for starring. With his ear being pulled he cannot hear word for word, but he gets the jest of it and fills in the rest.

Two guys in there twenties are saying, "What do you think Macao? They are here to submit a job request or membership."

"Membership, can you feel their magic levels Wakaba?" says a man that is probably Macao.

"Never been the best magical sensor. That has always been your department," replies Wakaba.

"The girl has pretty good reserves for a, what, pre-teen, but the boy is another matter entirely. I feel something different coming from him. It is like looking at star with your peripheral vision. It is brighter when not looking for it, but if you do look straight at it is almost disappears."

On the side he cannot see, Naruto hears a young girl say, "I hope they are looking for membership, Gray. It would be nice to have some more people our age."

"I don't know, Cana," replies a person named Gray. For some reason, Naruto mentally pictures this 'Gray' has a grey blob. "The red head looks pretty bossy, and the green head looks like a wimp." He is right on one account.

Naruto hears several other people talk about them, so he knows that they are the center of attention, which he does not like but he always himself to be dragged along like a puppet.

Walking up to the counter, Erza asks a rather short, old man, "Where is the master of the guild?"

With a far too cheery voice and a little red on his cheeks with his eyes closed, the man replies, "That would be me missy."

"We," Erza gestures to herself and the boy whose ear she is pulling, "would like to join the guild."

**Please review.**

**I stopped right not because I stopped having things to say but because this chapter is already getting kind of long. I have another two thousand words typed and still more to say on the whole situation.**

**I hopped I portrayed Naruto and his issues correctly. I really struggled for a bit to come up with an appropriate motivation for him to come to Magnolia. One of my reviews, I do not know whom because the internet is down as I write this, said that I am coming close to not staying true to the character I am writing, paraphrased. **

**Whoever you are, you are right because I look back over my last chapter I made Naruto go with Erza because I wanted him to not because the character wants to. As I continue to write this story, I will try to remember to put myself in my characters shoes, so to speak, as I write and not write from the all-knowing chair position. **

**Next chapter will be about Natsu, I am going to have a hard time with Naruto and Natsu, the strauss family, and Naruto joining fairy tail. The homework I have done tells me that erza joined before Natsu and the strauss family.**


	4. The Plot Thickens

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

"_Thinking/extract from book"_

"**Yelling/Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 6/16/2014

XXXXXXX

_Walking up to the counter, Erza asks a rather short, old man, "Where is the master of the guild?"_

_With a far too cheery voice and a little red on his cheeks with his eyes closed, the man replies, "That would be me missy."_

"_We," Erza gestures to herself and the boy whose ear she is pulling, "would like to join the guild."_

XXX

"Oh hell no Erza," Naruto shouts at the top of his lungs. Reaching up with his right arm, he yanks Erza's hand off his earlobe. Wincing from the stinging pain, Naruto continues his rant, "I said I would bring you to Fairy Tail, and I brought you here. I have fulfilled my promise."

"No, you said you would come and live with me at Fairy Tail which means becoming a member," she says with her arms crossed and an air of confidence that she had just won the argument.

"If I remember correctly…"

"Which you aren't," she quickly interrupts.

"…I said I would take you to Fairy Tail, and I implied that I would live in the village," the green haired boy replies.

"I distinctly remember otherwise, and I have the better memory," she says in a haughty voice.

Growling deep within his throat, Naruto, "Red, you are getting on my nerves,"

"Do NOT snarl at me Naruto," she says with a raised voice and stamping her foot.

"I will snarl if I want…"

Opening his eyes, Makarov watches the two child before him practically bicker before him. _"Not the best first impression you can make, but I never did care about first impressions to begin with."_ Internally, he gives the peace sign at himself. _"Besides, their magic does the talking._"

The red headed girl's magic is pretty remarkable, and the boy must be taking something for his magic to look that like, bright and powerful but only when not looking. Of course, Macao or Wakaba have far more magic then both of them combined, but considering their age, they are pretty impressive.

In truth, he had hoped that they are here for membership rather than job request. Fairy Tail has been in a bit of a decline lately. At the current moment, the only S-rank he commands happens to be Gildarts, and he runs all around the world on crazy adventures that can take at the minimum of six months. All of his other S-ranks had retired from old age or moved on to create guilds of their own. He couldn't blame them either. Still, he wishes that he has more powerful child to guide.

Besides he cannot lead Fairy Tail forever and unless Gildarts suddenly becomes the settling down type, he has no successor. Internally, he cries big overly dramatic anime tears.

Makarov has always believed in the system of taking them in when they are young and train them up. Taking in troubled young children and giving them a future filled adventure, always gave him sense of purpose. Of course when he was younger, he wanted his own adventure, but after having his own child, that began to change.

Looking at the two of them before, Makarov can see that both of them are broken. Their postures and gestures practically scream 'help me' to him.

Without either of them noticing, hops down behind the counter. Rummaging through some junk and old receipts from the day's profit, he finds what he is looking for after some difficulty. There is a lot of junk back there.

Jumping back onto the table, he says, "What color and where do you want it," with a stamp with the symbol of Fairy Tail on it.

Confusion written on his face, Naruto stares blankly at the stamp, but Erza taking the initiative says, "Blue and on my left arm, and is his hair color and on his right shoulder."

"What is going on?" Naruto asks confused over the whole arm and color thing.

The old man does not answer with words so much as stamping Erza's arm with the stamp. Naruto's face turns white with understanding. He turns to run, but before he can even more, he feels the stamp on his arm.

Naruto furiously rubs his hand over the fresh guild mark in a vain attempt to remove it. Noticing it is not coming off; he yells at both Erza and the old man whose he still does not know, "GET THIS OFF ME. I NEVER WANTED TO BE APART OF THIS GUILD."

"Yes, you do," Erza says in a forceful voice.

"No, I do not. Also do not go around deciding things for other people," he shouts back at her.

Content to just let them bicker it out a bit, Makarov watches with a smile and takes several sips of his drink. Eventually, all good things must come to an end, so once Makarov finishes his drink, he says, "Boy, let me make you a deal."

Stopping his bickering with his companion, he turns his head and says, "If it is a way to get this stupid mark off my shoulders then I will do whatever you want." As an afterthought, he says, "No offense on the stupid remark."

"None taken," he says in his cheery voice, "The deal is simple; make me move off my counter and I will let you out of Fairy Tail."

"I will take it," he says in an arrogant voice.

"_Arrogance, I will have to fix that,"_ Makarov thinks to himself.

Rolling up metaphorical sleeves since he does not wear a shirt and handing his burlap sack to Erza, Naruto puts his hand on Makarov's shoulder and pushes. Nothing happens not even a budge.

"You have to do better than that son," he says.

"Do not call me son, **Force magic: Forward Momentum.**"

Makarov's eyebrows skyrocket so much that they almost touch the roof of the two story building. Quickly grabbing the boy's hand, he puts it on the counter top before the magic can activate. Once it does, the portion of the counter next to Makarov is completely crushed by the amplified force.

"_That was amazing… and stupid. I do not know where he learned such magic, but using it so recklessly can seriously hurt him," _Makarov thinks to himself in some wonder._ "All this because I called him son?"_

"_I have to put some distance between use otherwise he might actually make me move."_ With his hand still grabbing the boy's arm, he uses more strength than an eighty year old man should be able to use to throw the boy across the room.

Skidding to a stop a couple dozen feet away, Naruto stands to his feet. _"He is a lot stronger than he looks. I know I cannot beat him in a straight up fight, but I thought I could win if all I had to do was make him move. I am not sure if he would take it well if I started using more deadly techniques first, so let me start something safer and work from there. Unlike the incidents in the forest, I do not have to hold back in case another predator shows up, and I have my reserves at full."_

**Wood magic: Tree Hammer.**

With shocked faces all around from a boy wielding dual magic, a tree without leaves grows out of the ground. It slowly begins to shape itself into a flat cylindrical battering ram. It reaches its maximum size, and with a fury, it races towards Makarov.

**Titan magic: Partial Expansion Fist.**

Throwing a punch, his arm expands to an impossible size that race off the meet the opposing attack head on.

The two opposing techniques clash in the middle. The result is the wood hammer splintering and ultimately splitting apart along the middle with the giant fist still rushing towards the forest hermit.

Just before the fist hits him, Naruto jumps out of the way to safety.

"_Dual magic!" _Makarov thinks to himself, _"How in the world can he be able to use dual magic, and not just simple silly magic, but real powerful magic. __**Force**__ and __**Wood**__ magic two of the stronger kinds of magic around."_

"_Damn, what the hells is with this old man. Being able to punch right through the wood hammer?"_

X

"Master," says Erza to Makrarov, "You never…"

"We can continue to talk, but please my child step away from the battle. I fear this may only be getting started," he interrupts and pulls back his arm.

"Come over here," a girl with a yellow dress and brown hair says to her.

"You said for Naruto to win; he has to make you move. But how are you supposed to win?" she shouts over to him from her new position with the girl and a boy with only his underwear on.

"I win when he gives up," Makarov yells back.

Whispering into her ear, the brown haired girl says, "Master will not hurt your friend…well as long as he knows when he is beaten."

Turning to look at her, "But he is too stubborn for his own good."

The boy with no clothes on says, "Then hope that Master shows some restraint."

Slapping the boy's chest, "Gray, master knows when to hold back," she says to help alleviate some fear in the new girl. She also says, "Gray where are your clothes?"

"Whaaa, not again."

X

Slamming his fist on the ground, Naruto struggles to come up with an idea to win. _"I cannot win straight on, so maybe some misdirection will work."_

Seeing his determined face, Makarov thinks to himself, _"Show me what you've got son."_

With defiance on his face, Naruto stands to his feet.

**Wood magic: Swarming Roots.**

A dozen tentacle of wood rise around Naruto's feet before speeding their way towards his enemy.

Makarov waves his hand in a wide sweeping arc, **Wind magic: Blow Back.**

The strength of the wind completely stops the wood tentacles in their tracks. Seeing the futile attempt, Naruto tries out one of his stronger techniques, **Wood magic: Wooden Serpent.**

The wooden tentacles pull back slightly to merge together as one. Once all their collective mass has been pooled together, the serpent continues to grow. Having gained enough mass to rival an elephant, it detaches from the ground and coils around on the floor. It opens its mouth to hiss but no sound comes out. It just looks threatening.

Preparing himself, Makarov waits for the impressive looking snake to attack.

Lunging, the snake strikes with lethal accuracy.

"_Those fangs in its mouth look painful,"_ Makarov thinks to himself, so instead of using his preferred **Titan **magic, he uses **Fire magic: Burner Hand.**

Stretching out his right arm with his palm open, a small red and orange fire appears in his hand. Just the wooden serpent comes within striking distance; the fire spreads outwards in a tight fiery beam. The beam of fire incinerates the entire snake within seconds.

When the flames and smoke of burning wood dies down, Makarov and everyone else cannot see Naruto anywhere. They figure out where he is when a voice calls out from the ceiling **Force magic: Forward Momentum. **Looking up, they see Naruto push off the ceiling with his legs.

X

"Anyone know how he got on the ceiling?" Gray asks to anyone.

"He used his abilities over wood to call a vine from the ceiling that he then used to maneuver himself over master," Erza says in a matter of fact tone.

Everyone nods at her words in understanding

Cana looks over at Gray and says, "Gray you lost your underwear now as well."

Covering private with his hands, he says, "Whaaa, this always happens."

Erza looks at Cana and asks, "Does he always strip like this?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"Shh," two mid-twenties men hush them that everyone but Erza knows as Wakaba and Macao, "The end is here."

X

Knowing that this is the end one way or another, Makarov uses his favorite technique **Titan magic: Partial Expansion Fist.**

Enormous fist and adolescent body collided with thunderous boom. The force behind Naruto's blow sends Makarov's fist backwards, but Makarov's fist sends Naruto flying backwards towards the ceiling.

Impacting with the roof, Naruto sticks to it for a moment before falling to the ground.

"_Shit," _Makarov curses, "_At that height he could seriously be injured."_

Expanding his other hand, Makarov catches the boy with both hands in an attempt to soften any damage done from the landing.

Bringing him down to the ground gently, he carefully lays the boy his side. "Had enough son."

Makarov would have pseudo taunted the boy some more, but he sees that the boy is rolling around the ground clutching his leg in pain. From the angle and the boy's hands covering his leg, he cannot truly see the extent of the damage, but the leg is at least fractured.

For a brief moment, a battle rages inside of Makarov. Hop down and help the boy or stay here on his counter. _"Naruto could be playing a trick on me to get me to move, but he really looks injured."_ Looking around the room, he sees everyone else having the same internal debate.

Focusing his attention back on the room rolling with pain, the aging man with the bald spot sees something that makes him believe that this is not a joke or plan, _"Are those tears?"_

Those tears promptly set of Makarov's paternal instincts. Hopping off the desk and rushing over, Makarov says, "How bad is it."

Naruto does not answer.

"Son you have to let me see your leg."

Naruto does not move his hands.

"NARUTO," Erza screams as she tries to run up to the downed Naruto. The key word tries because Macao intercepts her and picks her up by the shoulders. He whispers something into her ear as he sets her back down that calms her down somewhat. Meanwhile, Wakaba yells out into the crowd, "Back it up people, back it up. Nothing to see here, go back to your drinking."

"Naruto," Makarov says, "Move your hands or I am going to pull them away."

Naruto still does not move his hands.

Taking both of the boy's hands in one of his own, Makarov slowly peels the hands away from the leg. He vaguely notes that something slippery is coating his hand, but he is far too distracted by the sight to notice such a thing.

The bone in his left leg broke completely in two with the lower portion of the bone punching through the skin as if say 'hello outside world'.

Several of the guild members who have a good view of the damage turn a nice shade of green.

Making a quick and easy decision, he says, "Wakaba, run to Porlyusica and tell her to prep bone mending potions and warm up the Full Body Scanner. Macao pick the boy up with care, and follow Wakaba. I will bring Erza with me in moment."

"You got it boss," they say in near unison before rushing off to their jobs, but just as Macao makes a move to pick up Naruto, Makarov pinches the boy's neck knocking him out cold. _"How did he not scream out in pain?" _he thinks to himself as he watches the boy be whisked away.

"Reedus," Makarov shouts into the crowd.

"Here master," a rather shy looking individual with curling orange hair says.

"You are in charge until I get back. Make a note of any job requests coming in along with any outgoing or returning members from a job. I won't be gone long."

"M-Master are sure…"

"I trust you Reedus," the aging man says with a smile that seems to bolster Reedus's confidence.

Turning to Erza, Makarov says, "Don't worry, your friend is about to be seen by the best doctor in Fiore. Trust me, I have injured myself far worse far than your friend has, and she has always healed me back to full health."

The worry and fear in Erza's eyes diminish slightly.

"Would you come with me to check on your friend and get your eye looked at."

"I would like that."

XXXXXX

Erza doesn't know what to think.

One the one hand, she sees Makarov in a far worse light than when she first came to Fairy Tail. Rob-jiji had told so many stories about 'Macky' that she practically knew almost everything about the man. The most important thing to know about Makarov is his hatred of hurting children, whether his or not.

With Erza's past, he might as well have her unending devotion and love from those stories alone, but he injured Naruto fracturing her pre-manufactured vision of her new Master.

However, the bone that broke was not his arms but his legs, and with Naruto' use of **Force magic,** that could also be the reason.

Despite herself, she cannot stop herself from worrying about Naruto. The boy is far too stubborn for his own good, and he has an intense –Erza would like to think that she had cooled his anger towards humanity in their short time –dislike of his own race. But he is sweet in his own way by constantly saving her life when she put herself in danger and giving her the better half of the food supplies.

Despite his anger, Erza knows that he cares…he just has a strange way of showing it.

"Erza," the elderly man begins as they walk along the path to this Porlyusica's house, "Is that Naruto's bag?"

Looking down at it, she remembers that Naruto handed it to her before the fight. As a side note she still has both of their bags. "Umm, yeah, but Naruto doesn't like it when I go through his stuff. One time I tried to look through it, but he found out and stopped me by throwing a baby snake on me."

"Well considering the situation, I think that he would not mind it too much," he says with that same goofy smile.

When the red head had first came into the guild, she had been arguing too much with her companion and was distracted by the fight too much to notice his attire, but now that she does, she thinks, _"This is the guild master!" _Only from watching his earlier fight keeps her mind from having a meltdown from pure astonishment.

To start off, he is wearing a white shirt with a black symbol for Fairy Tail on the front. He also wears an orange hoodie with blue trim on the sleeves with a matching blue and orange stripped jester hat with old style clown shoes. Anyone of this article of clothing would be enough to laugh at, but all together they are quite the sight. He looks like a clown without the makeup.

Handing the bag to the clown master, she says, "Here…" stifled laugh"…you go." If she wasn't trying so hard not to laugh, Erza would have had more objections.

Rummaging through the bag, Makarov founds a couple of books, apples, what he is looking for, and something that he does not expect. _"Haha, I knew he is taking something for his magic to look so peculiar, but what is this…this changes everything."_

"Come one Erza we need to pick up the pace," the master says before increasing his pace from a brisk walk to a furious job.

With a huff, Erza runs after him on her tired and exhausted legs.

XXXXXXX

Stopping in front of Porlyusica's…tree house, Makarov says to Erza, "When we go in, make sure that you are respectful and polite because Porlyusica is a bit of a misanthropic nature."

"Who has a what now?" says Erza with her eyebrows furrowing.

"Misanthropic means avoiding human society."

"Oh Naruto is one of those as well, he used to live in the Forest of Ancient Elders."

"_That explains where he got the ingredients for the potion," _Makarov thinks to himself before saying, "Well, I don't say I didn't warn you."

Makarov took hold the door handle and steps inside. Erza step behind him suddenly has broom in her face.

"_At least it isn't a spear,"_ she thinks to herself before remembering master's words.

"Makarov not only have you injured a new member of your guild, but you have those two idiotic buffoons bring him instead of yourself. But now you have even brought someone along with you to my house in some vain attempt to less your beating. Of all the things…"

Clearing her throat and remembering master's words, Erza puts on a smile that a new born babe can tell is forced and grits out, "Excuse me mam, I came here only to check on my friend and see if you can heal my eye."

Taking a good look at the girl in front her, Porlyusica thinks to herself, _"The other new recruit at least attempts to be polite, but let us see how long that lasts._" Crouching to her knees, Porlyusica brushes the hair from the girl's face before pushing the eye wrap out of the way. Using the other hand that is not in use, she opens the eyelid with a gentle hand that betrays her harsher exterior. She sees that the eye had been plucked out not cut or damaged. _"This takes a special kind of person to do such a thing."_

Erza meanwhile, takes the opportunity to look this abrasive woman over. Erza had expected for her to be dressed like the female equivalent of Naruto's attire, but she dresses like a respectable and dignified woman would if slightly eccentric. Her face is wrinkling showing off her advanced age, but her hair still retains her original color…if pink is her original hair color. When she touches her eyelid, Erza flinches slightly, but her hand is very gentle. _"She is like Naruto. She cares despite her abrasive outside."_

Porlyusica down with her pre-examination, stands and says, "The eye is a tricky thing to heal with being so close to the brain and all, but I think that I can fix this. It will take time though to create the proper potion."

"That is fine," Erza replies, "But how is Naruto."

"He will live, girl. It is just a broken bone. The only odd thing here is Macky here wanting a FBS down."

Pulling out his pipe, Makarov says, "Humor me Porlyusica."

Makarov never gets to put his pipe in his mouth because Porlyusica hits him upside the head with her broom knocking away his pipe.

"You are so mean, Porsy." That got him another whack upside the head.

"Can we please get back to Naruto's case."

Erza got a whack from the broom. Spitting out some straw, Erza hears Porlyusica say, "The FBS is still warming up but…"

A ding can heard in the background.

"…Is apparently ready."

Porlyusica walks over to a white sheet and pulls it back to reveal Naruto's bed. Picking a glove off to his side whom is lying on his back with his leg elevated and already in a sling, she puts it on.

"_Damn she works fast. Macao couldn't have been more than ten minutes ahead of us," _Erza thinks to herself.

Porlyusica pushes on a flat on one side jewel on his chest with her gloved hand. Suddenly, a holographic picture of his body appears over the pendant. Pulling up a stool for herself, the aging woman brings the hologram closer to Erza and Makarov. "Alright Macky, what am I supposed to be looking for."

"Check the density of his bones first, specifically his legs then move on to his magic core," he says will bringing over a chair for himself and Erza.

Sitting down in her chair, Erza watches the pink haired woman work with wonder. She makes these gestures with her fingers on the gloved hand, and the hologram moves according to her gestures. She watches the hologram Naruto be stripped of his flesh and then muscles, so that only the skeletal structure remains.

Porlyusica zooms in on his chest first. Having never seen one before, Erza doesn't know if Naruto's body is damaged or not, but the elder woman and man make humming noises at his chest.

The hologram zooms out and then back in on his legs more specifically his broken one. Besides for the broken bone part, Erza cannot really tell if something is wrong until Makarov says, "Just as I thought, his bones are thinning but the further you go down on his body, the worse it is."

"Let me check the other leg," Porlyusica says.

The holograms shows the other leg and this time Erza does note something is wrong. Something is wrapped around his leg, and the leg has fractures all over the place.

"What is that?" the young girl asks, "It is wrapped entirely around his leg keeping it in place."

"Let me magnify it," the elderly woman says with curiosity.

Zooming in so much that only the foreign substance is visible, Makarov says, "Good lord, is that wood?"

"It is keeping the leg from being damaged further," Porlyusica declares. "Simply incredible," she also whispers to herself.

The three of them stare in wonder at what they are seeing with Erza and Makarov doubly in wonder as they had seen Naruto use wood magic. They both think,_ "He grew wood inside his leg to splint it."_

Finally, Erza asks, "But what is the cause of the bones in his legs thinning so much that they break so easily?"

Makarov, who had kept position of Naruto's bag, opens it up and tosses a glass bottle at Porlyusica. Catching the bottle with ease, she opens it and wafts the smell into her nose. Exclaiming, she gasps out, "Bright Star potion! …Uh and poorly brewed as well."

"What is bright now?" Erza asks.

Clarifying, Makarov tells her, "Bright Star is a potion. When it was first designed, it was supposed to be the poor man's Shadow Cloak potion, and that potion completely masks your magical signature from detection. Only a dedicated magical sensor could find you if you took that potion. The Bright Star works the opposite way. It only hides you if you someone is specifically looking for you."

"How so?"

"Magical sensing is an art, but basically once it is learned, it stays active all the time. A sensor that walks into a tavern can sense all the wizards or witches inside, but a he can also narrow his focus onto a single target," Makarov says before gesturing towards his longtime friend.

"The Shadow Cloak potion will cloak you so that the sensor cannot see you, but only if he is not looking for your exact signature. The Bright Star will still keep your magic capable of being seen, but stop the sensor from finding your specific signature," the elderly woman says.

Erza nods her head in understanding.

Continuing, Porlyusica says, "But poorly brewed Bright Star, which is horridly easy to do, can affect your bone density, specifically your legs and feet." Raising her hand to stop Erza's next question, she says, "Basically the potion reacts with the body in a way that produces a heavy chemical that enters blood stream and affects the bones. This heaviness of the chemical causes the majority of it to settle in the legs. Now you said the magic core as well."

"Yes, I have a theory about his origins," he says.

"What is that?" Erza asks with blatant curiosity, "I know he speaks another language entirely, but I know for a fact that he does not know where is home village is."

"All the more reason for the test," he says.

Zooming off the wood wrapped around his leg, Porlyusica twitches her fingers to add back his muscles on his body.

"_That looks really weird,"_ Erza thinks to herself.

The hologram then zooms into his torso area before stopping on his appendix.

"There it is Macky, what do you want me to check?"

"Wait that is just his appendix," Erza is really glad she skimmed that book about human anatomy.

"The magic core is the appendix," the pink haired woman says in duh voice.

"_The book did not mention that information,"_ Erza thinks to herself.

"I was so sure to," Makarov whispers to himself before saying, "Zoom inside of his core."

"Macky, there is nothing to be seen…" Porlyusica spoke to soon. There inside the hologram, lies a small lacrima. "No, the scanner must be broken. It has to be."

"What is the big deal?" Erza asks.

"A lacrima being inserted inside someone is not the problem. The problem is that the lacrima is inside the core and bonded with it. Look at how the appendix is touching it in some places…"

Sure enough, in some places the lacrima's crystalline structure has fused with the flesh around it.

"…The amount of stress and pain for his body to endure had to have been enormous. I am surprised he is not dead," Makarov exclaims with wonder.

Speaking up, Porlyusica says, "Usually, the lacrima is inserted alongside the base of the spine. Bonding a lacrima to a person's magic core is sure fired way to a kill him. That is why the scanner has to be broken."

"No the scanner is fine otherwise it wouldn't have turned on," Makarov says, "Zoom out and look specifically on one of his hands. I need to see something."

"Hang on," she says while moving on to the next point of interest, "If there is one more surprise I my just keep him here for…I am definitely keeping him here for experiments."

Erza looks between the two of them silently asking them what is so special about his hands.

"I am wondering how in the world his parents conceived him," Makarov says to Porlyusica and to engrossed by the sight to notice Erza.

"No, not his parents but a set of grandparent, his core is too big and his veins too few for that," she adds her own two cents.

"Still our kind and his ancestors are not capable of reproducing naturally. Then if you are right, that begs the question of whether or not that parent is even fertile."

"Obviously, that parent is fertile and the grandparents somehow gave birth, so the question is, was he born in our world or the other one. Not to mention that lacrima that is bonded to his magic core."

Butting in, Erza asks with a raised voice, "What are you talking about."

So caught up in their own little discussion, they look at Erza as though she just appeared from thin air.

Rubbing the back of his head, Makarov says, "Well…"

He and Porlyusica take turns telling Erza about there are multiple worlds out there just in space as far as they knew. They tell her about how small tears appear in there world that connect them to another one. They don't tell her about Edolas because it has no consequence on the conversation, but they do tell her the world of the Elemental Nations and the land of the Shinobi. They tell her about child soldiers forced to kill people on the orders of the Kage. The two of them talk about how shinobi and mages cannot reproduce, which starts another discussion of where babies come from leaving all three mentally scarred, naturally because their chakra and our magic cannot interact with another.

"So Naruto is like an alien," Erza asks.

"In a way yes," Makarov says, "but for whatever reason he ended up here in our world."

"Did Naruto come from the other side of this portal?" she asks as well.

"Well, I cannot say for sure, but when you said he can speak another language, I believe so," Makarov says.

"So where is this chakra in his body scan."

"Unlike our magic core, chakra has no real place to be created. It just appears inside those veins in the stomach region, so we cannot exactly look at it."

"How did the lacrima become bonded with his core?"

The elderly woman answers this time, "That is the mystery."

"Oh, I guess that answers all of my big questions for now," she says to them before turning to speak to Porlyusica directly, "When will he wake up?"

"Not for another two days," she says, "I gave him some powerful pain killers that will keep him in lala land for the duration."

"Now," she continues with the broom suddenly back in her hand, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE. I HAVE ANOTHER SURGERY TO PREFORM."

Whacking them on the head several times, Erza and Makarov pack up their belongings and race towards the door.

"AND STAY OUT," she yells as she watches them race down the trail to and from her house.

As they run, Erza asks, "Will Naruto be okay with her?"

"So long as he is a patient, he will be fine," Makarov says with a smile, _"I think."_

XXXXXX

Thousands of miles in the sky and half way around the world, a shadowy man looks at the horizon through a window. This is one of the shadowy figure's favorite ways to pass the time. After living for hundreds of years, he had seen just about every sunset, sunrise, and horizon there is to be seen, but he never got tired of looking at the beauty of the world.

A woman kneels behind him and says, "Master we have failed to capture the boy in the forest, and he now resides in Fairy Tail."

With a silky smooth voice, he asks, "Pray tell how did this happen?"

The woman is silent for a moment before answering, "The boy is quite crafty with his resources and the items around himself. He brewed the Bright Star potion to avoid detection, and when we did find him, he used the animals to distract us while escaping, my Lord."

Letting a small amount of annoyance into his voice, he asks another question, "And why did you not capture him while he still resided inside the village and unaware?"

"The boy spotted us from the moment we stepped inside the village sir," she said with a lot of fear in her voice, "I can apprehend the boy if…"

"No," he says, "Your failure is inconsequential."

"My Lord," she says confused.

"The boy is still too young for our needs and attacking Fairy Tail would show our hand to soon."

"I am sorry for my failure. I will succeed next time," she says in a relieved voice.

Turning to face the woman, he walks up to her and strokes her chin in affection, "Yes, you will, but first you will know pain. Guards."

Two big burly men step inside.

"Torture her until she dies then regenerate her."

"Master no, I can still succeed…"

"No, you have failed me," he says as the guards drag the woman away, "I must punish you, and how fitting is it for me to punish you the same way you punish others."

Her screams of help are ignored by the guards and everyone else that can hear as she is dragged from the room.

Walking back to his window, the shadowy figure stares at the horizon. _"Soon, we will exterminate the human race."_

XXXXXX

**Please review**

**The plot thickens.**

**Last author's note, I said it would have natsu and the strauss in it, but I lied apparently. I just had so many ideas inside my head that it exploded. It took a while for my body to tape all the pieces back together. Eventually, I just decided to delete what I had earlier and rebuild it from scratch because at first it felt scripted and it didn't follow easily. **

**How was the fight scene? I really want feedback on that the most. **

**For the people that think that Naruto should have done better, this is one of the ten wizard saints that can change the surrounding environment with a sweep of his hand.**

**For the people that think that Naruto should not have even agreed to the fight in the first place, this an arrogant child fighting to preserve his way of life and to protect his independence.**


	5. Lessons

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

"_Thinking/extract from book"_

"**Yelling/Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 6/23/14

XXXXXXX

"_This sucks,"_ Naruto thinks to himself for the umpteenth time.

It has been a month since the whole fighting the guild master and breaking your leg incident, and it has not been a good one either.

First, Naruto had to spend three whole days with that horrid healer. The amount of time she had hit him with that broom almost gave him a concussion. The healer is not supposed to injure the patient further. Everyone thought it is so funny, but no one dared come into that house, including the guild master.

Secondly, he has two casts forcing him to be in a wheel chair for the last month. For anyone else, it might not be so bad, but Naruto has thing about not having strangers constantly at his back. It was his plan to use this to his advantage to constantly avoid everyone, but Erza, who became his self-appointed wheel chair pusher, royally screwed that up by literally pushing him towards new people.

Thirdly, when he snarls at the guild members in an attempt to scare them away, they just laugh at him.

Fourthly, with his legs so messed up, he cannot go into the forest to hunt for both food and relaxation. This is doubly bad because the food here sucks. It is all sugary and fattening.

Fifthly, he lost to that old man which is a huge blow to his pride. Also, he is now forced to be a part of this guild.

Finally, Erza, whom he still cannot get rid of, took him to the dentist, doctor, and a place to get his hair cut. All three involved sharp objects and prolonged contact with people with sharp objects. The hair cut place was particularly a nightmare. Erza kept punching him in the shoulder every time he snarled at the woman when she brought those infernal scissors to close to his neck, which was every five seconds.

Sulking just a bit, Naruto thinks to himself, _"Who in their right mind goes to a place where a lady holds a sharp object to your head."_

Still things are looking up for Naruto.

The cast is coming off tomorrow meaning he can take jobs. These jobs can then get him some money to buy some property on the outskirts of town. It would afford him some privacy. In the meantime, Naruto has been staying the basement and eating at Fairy Tail until he can start taking jobs.

A hand touches Naruto's shoulder to turn his attention from his rambling thoughts. Turning around, he hears the old man ask, "With your cast coming off tomorrow, I would like for you to accompany me to a special location."

"No way…" Naruto begins, but then thinks, _"It would get me away from Red and the rest of these nut jobs. _"Sure why not, but where is this place."

"Excellent," Makarov says, "The trip will take three days, and that is a surprise. I think you will learn a lot."

"Like what?" the green haired boy now with shorter and less jagged hair asks.

"Oh, you will see."

XXXXXX

Three days later

XXXXXX

"You never did tell me why you were taking the Bright Star potion," Makarov asks as he and Naruto walk down a path in the middle of a forest.

Coming out of the euphoria of being in the forest again and out of those casts, Narurto answers, "I didn't."

"Nope."

"Then isn't any of your business old man," Naruto says with finality.

"_If only you would let people in, you would experience life in a much more fulfilling way," _Makarov thinks before asking another question he already knows the answer to, "Do you know where you came from and how you got here?"

"I don't know where I am from," Naruto answers honestly. He had already answered Erza's question about this before. "And the other part is none of your business."

"_No matter how many times you ask, you are not getting anything else from me."_

"I see," Makarov says and coming to a stop.

"Why are we stopping?" Naruto asks confused.

"Because this is where the portion of my journey ends, and where the beginning of all your questions are answered," he says cryptically.

"I don't understand."

"Walk down that path and return here. I will wait for you…but first can you summon a chair for an old man," he starts with more of his cryptic mumbo jumbo before returning to his cheery old man stick.

Waving his hand, Naruto summons Makarov a chair before turning to continue walking down his path.

X

"_This is silly,"_ Naruto thinks to himself as walks down the path in the forest.

He has been walking for several minutes. The old man had long since disappeared from sight in this bendy and twisty path.

Suddenly, the green haired boy feels this prick at the back of his neck. Not the type from a mosquito bite, no he had been bitten enough times to know, but the type from when those creepy guys chased him all throughout the forest.

Naruto never figured out who they are, but the first time he saw the two of them, one of them said something to Jimmy the Baker. The relatively nice man took out a knife and slit his own throat. There was no hesitation in his action, he just obeyed. Curiosity got the best of him, so he crawled closer to them so as to hear their conversation.

Back then he could not understand the language too well, but Naruto distinctly heard them say his name. The whiskered boy did the only thing he knew how to do back then, he ran for his life. He packed up some essential items and fled to the carriage he had hid in the forest so long ago.

Once or twice they almost had him, but with his powers over the forest, he had the home field advantage.

Naruto one time gravely injured one of them. Thinking that they would be done with him after he had so thoroughly evaded them every time, Naruto wanted to watch as they left.

They did not leave, but the man figure of the two grabs the woman's head and squeezes splattering her brain matter over the forest floor. Naruto knew right there and then, they would never give up.

A month later was when he learned of the Bright Star potion. Naruto spent the next four years constantly running from them.

Naruto had not felt this prick since he joined Fairy Tail. He does not know why, but they had yet to show their face around Magnolia. That is another reason why he does not want to stay in Fairy Tail.

Two years ago, Naruto had run out of food during the middle of winter, so he traveled back to the village for some desperately needed supplies. He knew it was a risk with the strange people constantly looking for him, but he really needed food.

He would never forget the literal rain of fire that fell from the sky. Explosions everywhere, people screaming for help, and the worst of it, the same woman he had seen with her brain matter splattered all over the ground talking with four other people. Before that incident, Naruto had only ever seen them from far away, but from up close, they had less than human features like him.

Taking up a defensive pose, Naruto wearily stops. For several minutes, he stays still listening to the sounds of the forest. _"If they have not attacked now, they aren't going to…for now. I should head back, but the old man said my question would be answered if I head down this path."_

The thought of Makarov handing him to the strange people on a silver platter did occur to him, but he quickly dismisses it. The old man is many things, but a back stabber is not one of them.

Deciding to risk it, Naruto slowly makes his way forwards with caution and care.

With every step taken, the prickly feeling becomes more and more intense. As he finishes coming around a bend in the path, the feeling on the back of his neck stops, the reason is an unnatural occurrence before him.

"W-What is that," Naruto exclaims to himself.

Inching his way forward, Naruto moves his way forward to get a better look.

If someone is to take a knife and cut a piece of cloth, it would look remarkably like that except being the size of two fully grown men. Inside the boundaries of the tear, a big swirling mass of deep red, violent purple, and unbearably bright yellow gases circle around inside the tear.

"_This has to be what the old man said would answer my questions, and this has to be what caused the feeling at the back of my neck."_

Picking up a rock, Naruto tosses it towards the tear. It bounces off, but the surface of the tear ripples like water. Thinking it is cool and harmless, Naruto tosses a wood stick at it. As soon as the stick is a foot away, it accelerates forward at an incredible speed, and instead of bouncing off, the stick passes right on through the portal with ease, rippling the surface as it goes.

Coming within a foot of it, Naruto expects for it suck him in, but it does not. Whether curiosity or stupidity makes him, Naruto places his hand on the surface of the tear. The water like boundary ripples around his hand, and when Naruto tries to push forward, it resists.

Pushing with all his might, the surface still resists him. Stepping back, Naruto just looks at it for a long time. Several hours pass of Naruto just staring at it, hoping for it to answer his questions.

Thinking to himself that he had kept Makarov waiting long enough, Naruto makes a move to walk away. Just as he turns, the swirling mass of gases clears. Eyeing the tear suspiciously, Naruto watches with baited breath.

As the swirling gases dissipate like a morning fog, the only thing that Naruto can see is a horizon with trees and a mountain with faces on it in the background. _"What am I seeing?"_

Naruto watches for several more seconds with baited breath knowing that something is about to happen, something important.

Finally, that something comes with silver hair. The man Naruto once considered to be his father stands before him on the other side of the looking glass. Time seems to slow down, as he watches the man run up to the tear on his side carry a small boy with blond hair. _"That is me! I am watching him abandon me." _Aching to hit something, Naruto rears back his fist to strike the tear in some vain attempt to hit the man that once tore his heart out.

Just before the fist lands to scatter the image, he sees the silver haired man shed a tear that spell bounds Naruto. As the man throws his younger body at the tear, Naruto sees the man say something, but no sound comes through.

Once his younger self eclipses the image, the swirling gases return to obscure his view.

"NO, NO, NO," Naruto yells repeatedly, "There has to be more." Slamming his fists on the surface rippling it, he yells, "Show me more dammit. TEL ME WHAT HE SAID. I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HE SAID." Whaling and yelling uncontrollably, Naruto repeatedly punches the tear with all his might.

Night falls and still Naruto hammers the tear with his fists until the portal shakes and shivers before closing up.

To stunned for words, Naruto falls to his knees and watches nothing.

Several minutes transpire before Makarov shows up. "Come on son. Let's get out of this dreadful cold. We can get us a room with a warm fire."

Not consciously aware of his presence, Naruto stays stock still as though expecting the tear to come back so that he can punch it some more.

Noticing this, Makarov pinches the boy's neck knocking him unconscious. He uses **Titan** magic to increase his size to roughly a full grown man. He picks Naruto up gently and care like a father would with his own child, and he turns to leave.

X

Grumbling a little bit, a boy rolls over in a vain attempt to fight off waking up. Sitting up suddenly, the boy yells, "PORTAL."

"Oh you are finally up," the boy hears the familiar sound of the old man.

Rushing out of bed, Naruto picks up his master by his jacket and slams him against the wall.

"Usually, a person says good mor…" Makarov says but is interrupted by Naruto.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Calm down son."

"No, I won't calm down until you answer every single one of my questions," he says as he brings his master off the wall before slamming him against the wall again. "Don't call me son either."

Knowing that whatever Naruto is capable of he cannot possibly injure him, Makarov just stares into the burning and rage filled eyes of the boy before him. _"You aren't breaking or broken. You are shattered. So desperate for something, but do you even know what?"_

"What do you want to know," Makarov states.

"What the hell was that thing for starters?" Naruto demands.

"Set me down and let us talk like civilized human beings," Makarov states with some force behind his voice.

"Last time I heard someone say that, I saw him slit the other's throat," Naruto eyes him weary.

"Put me down Naruto," this time it is Makarov demanding something. When Naruto still does not but back on the ground, Makarov lets the full force of his magic come crashing down on his shoulders. Dropping the old man to the floor, Naruto drops to his knees struggling to breathe.

"Let this is be your first lesson in humility," Makarov states with an edge to his voice and poofs his jacket, "Never threaten someone that can flatten you without lifting a finger. The last time we fought, I humored you to see the depths of your pain and your abilities." In truth, Makarov hated what he just did, the rough voice and the magic suffocation, but it is the only he will learn.

Reigning in his magic pressure, Makarov allows Naruto to take in a gulp of fresh air. "Let me help you Naruto. Let me in."

Sitting on his haunches, Naruto snarls with his own edge to it, "What gives you the right to intervene with my life? What gives you the right to try and save me?"

"None what so ever," Makarov says frankly, "however what gave you the right to save Erza in the forest so many times."

Naruto's eyes go wide.

"Yes, Erza told me everything that happened in the forest, everything. So let me ask you again, what gave you the right to save her life?"

"That was different," Naruto says standing up before sitting on the bed, "I promised her that I would take her to Fairy Tail. That was my right old man."

"You had an obligation," Makarov says taking pulling the chair from the nearby desk in the hotel room, "So do I. You made a promise to her, and I made a promise to myself."

"Oh really," Naruto says flippantly, "What promise is that?"

"The promise to never let another soul suffer when I can prevent it," Makarov states with finality.

"What if I don't want your help?" Naruto asks with curiosity.

"You are getting it whether you like it or not," Makarov says, "I could never live with myself if I did not at least try."

"I am to broken to fix old man," Naruto says with a straight face, but Makarov can see the pain in his eyes.

"Naruto, do you feel the need to commit heinous crimes?"

"No, why?"

Leaning in close to really get the message across, Makarov says, "Then you are not a lost cause son."

"Stop calling me son," Naruto shouts.

Smiling that same goofy smile, Makarov says, "So long as you wear that crest on your arm, I am your father and Fairy Tail your family."

Turning his head so that Naruto does not have to look the old man in the eyes, he says, "Pssh whatever, can we move on to my questions now."

"Sure,"

Turning back to face him, Naruto asks, "What the hell was that thing?"

"Let me be frank with you," Makarov says, "I do not know all the answers here, but I will answer to the best of my abilities. I can say that thing, as you so eloquently put it, is portal to another world."

"Quite lying, I am not a child."

"No, you are a young man and deserve to be treated as such," Makarov says, "the evidence as I know says that it is indeed a way to travel from another world."

"I don't believe you," Naruto says with disbelief in his voice.

Sighing to himself, Makarov begins, "Long ago, back when I a few years older than you, a man came to Fairy Tail. This man was ragged and heavily injured. Porlyusica immediately treated him to the best of her abilities."

"What this does have to do with that thing?" Naruto asks.

"Hold all questions to the very end," Makarov says with his hand in Naruto's face which he slaps away.

"During his examination, she found that he had no magic core," Naruto makes a move to speak, but Makarov puts his hand back in Naruto's face. "He also had several different anomalies that did not quite add up. When he awoke, he spoke a language that no one else had heard before. It took several months, but eventually, we broke the language barrier."

"What we found was that he came from a place called the elemental nations, specifically a village called Kumo. We figured out that he came here through some interdimensional rift. We eventually came up with a device that could detect the rift, and we tried all manner of things to get him back home, but nothing worked."

"Once we realized this, it took some time, but he integrated himself with much difficulty. The most peculiar thing was that he used something similar to magic, but fundamentally different."

"Fundamentally, magic comes from Eternano filling up a person's magic core, and his chakra, what he called it, was a combination of his spirit interacting with his body and therefor entirely internal. What we found out was that Magic and chakra do not want to mix naturally. Nothing explosive happens, but the mixture of the two causes rapid decay in the body."

"For many years, he lived in peace and prosperity. He married and adopted two children because he was physically incapable of having children with anyone from our world. The trouble started when he quit the guild, and he needed a simple blood test for a routine checkup. A few days later, Rune Knights showed up at his door and arrested him for treason."

Makarov shakes his head in sadness, "Everyone knew that charge was bogus, but only me, Porlyusica, and a few others knew that they wanted his blood."

"So what," Naruto says, "how does any of that mean I am from another world."

"To be honest, it can simply be circumstantial, but only without the other piece of evidence," Makarov says.

"What piece is that?"

"We are speaking it right now," Makarov says before switching back to his own native language, "the entire time, I spoke in your language, and you followed me perfectly."

With wide and stunned eyes, Naruto didn't even notice it until he switched tongues. Makarov was the one to start the conversation in his language. Naruto's brain just played along.

Whispering, Naruto says, "I found someone who could understand me, but he can speak my language from someone who claimed to be from another world. So that means I am…"

"From another world," Makarov finishes for him.

Naruto is silent for a long time before laughing out loud. "Hahahaha that totally explains everything. The lack of maps with Konoha on it and the strange customs, it explains everything."

He bursts out laughing again, "No wonder everyone ignored me on the slaver carriage. They literally could not understand me, hahahaha."

Wiping a tear from the corner of eye, Naruto says, "Now I can go back…The tear it wouldn't let me through."

Makarov was content to let him laugh it off. It was nice to him hear for the first time since he came to Fairy Tail…even if the laugh was slightly deranged. The slaver carriage was interesting, but for now best not to bring it up. But now looking into his face, Makarov did not quite know how to tell him this cruel fact. He decides to just tell him and hope for the best, "Naruto, I am afraid that the portal is a one way trip. That man I told you about, he tried thousands of times to go home, but he never could."

Throwing his head into his hands, Naruto cries. _"Why am I crying? Why would I even want to go back? No one was kind to me. Everyone threw me away. So why do I desperately want to go back and make them acknowledge me? Why?"_

"Some good news about this is that you are not just from that side," Makarov says, "You the blood of both worlds running through your veins."

Looking up, Naruto tries to understand what he just said.

"One of your grandparents originated from our world, and somehow he or she procreated."

"You said that the people from this world and the people from that world cannot have children."

"I did say that, but Porlyusica confirmed it. You have both bloodlines running through your veins. Maybe your mother or father was the one in a billion chance or maybe a children cannot be conceived on this side. Whatever the case it happened."

Putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder, Makarov tries to comfort the boy in a small way because this one is a tough pill to swallow. "One last thing about the portal Naruto is that in some way, it is sentient."

Naruto has confusion written all over his face.

"I am sure that you saw something through its surface. I don't know exactly what, but I guess it has something to do with this man," Makarov says while pulling out Naruto's picture.

Snatching it away, Naruto asks with a raised voice, "Where did you get this?"

"When you broke your leg, I looked through your bag to find if you were taking the Bright Star potion. When I saw the language on the back, I kept it for when this confrontation would happen."

"Why would you keep it?" Naruto shouts, "It is not yours to take."

"Again, you are right," Makarov says candidly, "but I have every obligation to see you come to peace with your past. Now back to the portal. As I said earlier, the portal is in some way sentient. It showed you something to make you despair even more. Am I right?"

"It showed me him," Naruto says with a monotone voice and a straight face. "I showed him abandoning me."

Rubbing his balding scalp, Makarov says, "I guessed it had something to do with him. However, Naruto do not be fooled. This man loved you."

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW. HE **THREW** ME AWAY JUST LIKE EVEYRONE ELSE," Naruto yells angrily.

Softening his features, Makarov says, "Naruto, I have seen that look on a man's face before. I see that look in the mirror when I think of my children and how far Fairy Tail has come. That goofy smile on his face that that is not quite shit eating tells me that he is proud of you in some way."

"…I-I don't understand," Naruto stammers and his rage dissipating by the minute.

"Naruto, I believe that this man is either related to you in some manner or knew your parents in a personal manner."

Naruto's face might have well have been punched in the face when Makarov said that.

"You said that everyone threw you away," Makarov states, "So why would this man be proud of you, if he only planned to throw you away."

"I-I-I…" Naruto stammers again.

"Think Naruto, if everyone was already mean to you, but he is proud of you, what does that tell you."

"He was proud that I overcame it," Naruto says in a soft whisper.

"Yes, He was and is proud of you otherwise he would not have left you such a heart filled message on the back of this photo."

Naruto does not have an answer for that. Rewinding his life back to when he still lived in Konoha, Naruto replays every single event that ever happened and the nightmares as well. The pain and sadness threaten to overwhelm him, but when the vestiges of his heart crack, the memory of his father figure mouthing something to him emerges.

Whether it is his shredded psyche clinging to some sliver of hope or the desire for someone to say three simple words to him, he believes the words to be 'I love you'.

Faster than Naruto can even imagine, the world begins to spin and shatter. Everything that was right side up is now upside down. Struggling to breath, Naruto says, "I-I need some fresh air."

As the green haired boy makes a move to stand up, Makarov grabs his arm and says, "Naruto my son, you don't have to tell me or anyone else in this world or the next what has happened to you, but do find a way to vent your emotions occasionally. Otherwise all those bottled up emotions will eat away at you."

Nodding his head which in hindsight is bad idea when everything is spinning, Naruto leaves the room.

Not noticing and not caring, Naruto does not notice that the high moon in the sky or the buildings around him. All he does is run. The direction and the speed don't matter as long as he can run.

Back in the room, Makarov doesn't know if that man did feel proud of Naruto, but he does know is that Naruto needed to hear that someone, especially someone from his past could be at the very least be proud of him.

Makarov thinks to himself, _"May this be your first lesson in regaining your humanity." _

"Now I think I saw a brothel across the street, and I have plenty of singles," he says to himself

XXXXX

For eight days, Naruto had kept the emotions and feelings inside his chest bottled up, but now they are rising to the surface. He tried writing a journal, not a diary, and going on nightly hunts for deer meat. Nothing worked.

He had spent the entirety of yesterday mulling over his sole remaining option, but he just needs to something other what he has been doing because nothing has worked.

Truth be told, he is nervous, terrified even, but building up the courage, he knocks on the door.

Waiting for several seconds, Naruto knocks on the door again.

Still the door does not open.

"This is stupid," he says to himself, "Why would I even think she is awake. It is twelve o'clock at night."

Turning to leave, the door screeches open halfway.

"Oh, yeah Naruto," Erza says from behind the door and in her pajamas and a sleepily.

"Hi Red, can I come in?" Naruto asks a little unsure. Human customs are not his strong suit.

"I was wondering when you would come and find me," she says smugly and leaning against the door.

"I don't understand," Naruto says with confusion.

"I was there with Makarov when we found out about your other worldly origins and your ancestry. Also, he told me about knowing where a portal is located, and taking you there," she says with a smile.

"I am going to kill that old man," Naruto spats out.

"No, you are not because he can kill you with a flick of his finger if he wants," she rebuts which she takes great pleasure in.

Naruto doesn't really have answer for that.

"So, you coming in," she says as she steps aside, "I have some left over cheesecake."

"You and cheesecake," Naruto shakes his head as he comes in.

"You and apples," she retorts.

"Too cliché."

XXXXXXX

One year later

XXXXXXX

"Yo Naruto," Wakaba calls out from behind the bar counter, "You were gone for a long time."

"Yeah, three months for a small, simple dark guild," Macao says after downing his beer.

"Well excuse me for being late," Naruto says with extreme annoyance. Pulling up a seat next to Macao, he continues, "It was supposed to take me no more than two weeks, but they had a moving guild."

"Moving how?" Wakaba asks while sliding a bottle of beer his way.

"For starters, I am never getting drunk again, and secondly, their guild literally grew legs and moved around," Naruto says.

"How did _Killer Wasps_ get a moving guild?" Macao slurs a little taking Naruto's beer for himself.

"I just let the two of you to know, I when I grow up, I want to be just like the two of you." Naruto says jokingly, "They stole some rich dude's personal mansion apparently."

Wrapping his arm around Naruto's shoulder, Macao begins to slur more noticeably, "Stick with me kid, and I will show you the world."

Naruto throws the offending appendage off his shoulder. "Thanks but no thanks. I prefer my life the way it is."

"You sure kid?" Wakaba asks while cleaning a glass cup.

"I am sure, and why are you back there in the first place? Your wife usually works back there," Naruto says a little confused.

"She came down with the sniffles."

"Wakaba, you have the hottest wife ever," Macao says heedless of what he just said and that an adolescent sits right next to him.

"She is a bit of diva, but sex with a diva is the best," Wakaba says with a shit eating grin.

Naruto fells the shivers racing up his spine those mental images, "You know, I am so glad that the three of us are so close that we can openly discuss our sex lives."

"We? Where is the we in this conversation?" Wakaba asks.

"Yeah, me and Wakaba are the only ones that discuss our sex lives," Macao adds his own timber to the fire.

"And you keep on sharing, and I will keep on being grossed out by the mental pictures," Naruto says a little disgusted, "Plus, I am thirteen."

"Don't mean jack shit," Macao says again heedless of what he says and who he says it to.

"By the time I was eleven, I already had scores of women," Wakaba says exaggerating.

Naruto holds up his hand to stop the oncoming impromptu interrogation session. "Let me stop this before it goes any further by asking where the old man is."

"I think he is out back," Wakaba says a little uncertain, "I have not seen him in a while."

"He came in with a new kid and took him out back for a test I think," Macao struggles to remember over his obvious intoxication.

"Thanks," Naruto says with his over eagerness to get away from the two of them showing quite a bit and leaves the two to their own devices.

Macao turns to Wakaba and says, "Maybe this is just me being drunk, but I have noticed that your wife has been putting on a few pounds."

"I have noticed that too," Wakaba says a little depressed, "She lost her sexy flat belly."

"You are gonna have to find a new diva to have hot, crazy monkey sex with," Macao says again heedless of his words not that Macao cares.

"She still has her figure," Wakaba says trying to defend his wife.

"We are getting old," Macao says with a small tear, "We are almost thirty, and when girl's hit thirty they start to put on a few pounds."

"She has put on some weight but not as much as you think," Wakaba says defending his wife's sexiness and the memory of wild passionate sex.

"I am just saying man," Macao shrugs his shoulders causing his liquor to fly around.

"Go back to your drinking," Wakaba says clearly done with this conversation. Macao makes a move to continue the argument, but he sees his drink causing his eyes to go wild at how much is left. Big overdramatic tear ensue.

X

There are many reasons that Naruto hated living in the basement at Fairy Tail back when he first came to Magnolia. The noxious fumes of beer and alcohol perforate the air that no amount of air freshener could fix. The size of the rats range from well above average all the way up to dogs capable of carrying small children. The furnace constantly saying, 'I think I can, I think I can get hot.' The incandescent light bulbs flicker constantly and defy physics by never turning off even when unplugged.

Still, the one upside to those months were constantly being able to go out back look at the view.

Behind the guild, the pure blue lake shimmering at sunset could melt a cold hard criminal's heart. Occasionally, a large fish or aquatic mammal would jump high into the air with a grace and fluidity that no human could match. To this day, the view is still one of Naruto's favorite things about Fairy Tail.

To this view, Naruto sees the old man, Erza, Gray, and the new kid down by the lake bed, but they are not enjoying the sunset like he does. Erza and the old man watch Gray and the new kid slug it out.

"_Why cannot these people ever just slow down and enjoy the view like a normal person," _Naruto thinks to himself with a sweat drop running down his face. Coming up behind the two of them, he says, "Yeah Erza, old man."

Turning around, Erza smiles. For some reason, Naruto has been noticing that Erza has been doing it less. Naruto just figures her nightmares still plague her. The smile stops when she opens her mouth, "What took you so long." The condoning tone is so palpable that it almost takes on a physical form.

The old man turns around with a smile on his face as well, "Back in one piece. I thought I might have to send a senior member out to look for you."

Naruto sighs and rubs his head from a bad memory. "Look it wasn't my fault. Somehow they got a hold of a moving guild."

Huffing with exasperation, Erza stomps her foot in the ground. "Naruto, you are one of the guild's best trackers, so why were you really gone for so long."

Naruto shakes his hands in a placating gesture. "It took me so long because the area that they fled to was a desert. I cannot track very well in an arid climate." He says, "No really," when Erza's pointed look does not go away.

Accepting it for now, Erza turns her attention back to the fight.

"What has her panties in bunch?" Naruto asks Makarov before slapping his face. _"I am letting those two idiots affect my speech pattern. What is next, me slapping a girl's ass…I mean but."_

Giggling at his son's unintentional wording, Makarov says with his near omnipresent smile, "She is just mad because her best friend was gone for so long."

Naruto sighs with a grief stricken face but snaps his fingers at a sudden thought. Coming up behind Erza, he grabs her hair that is in French braid and twice as long as when he first met her with a hard tug but not hard enough to hurt.

Startled, Erza reacts by throwing her body backwards. She turns around to hit Naruto with a fury known only by scorned women and cornered animals. Naruto grabs her arm and pulls her taunt against his body so that her front meets his back. He bends his knees before pivoting his hip to toss her to the ground.

She yelps in pain when she hits the ground. It stings, but otherwise undamaging. Naruto using his opening drops to his bottom. He quickly grabs her foot underneath his armpit, and with quick hands he tears off her shoe and sock. He turns his head back to see Erza's startled face that is quickly showing fear. She says in a really scared voice, "No Naruto. Anything but that."

"Sorry Red, but is for your own good," he says with glee. Shifting one of his fingernails into a wicked sharp claw, Naruto rakes his claw up her foot in a wickedly slow pace.

Erza struggles to not cry out laughing, so she slaps her hands over her mouth in a vain attempt to not embarrass herself.

"_She will break. She always does," _Naruto thinks to himself in evil laugh form.

Trailing his finger up and down the skin on the bottom of her foot, Naruto takes great pleasure in this. Before long of this insidious torture, Erza can no longer contain her pure bubbly laugh inside, "Hahahaha."

This goes on for a long time, read thirty seconds. Finally, Erza manages through her laughter, "Please…Naruto...Hahahaha…stop….Hahahaha."

"You know what I want Red," Naruto says vindictively.

"Fine…hahaha…you win," she says dejected despite her laugh.

Letting go of her foot, which she quickly pulls away, Erza says, "I am sorry for being mad at you, and I won't call you leafy for a month."

"Good to know," Naruto says with a smile that reaches his eyes.

"Fight me," Naruto hears unfamiliar voice behind him.

Turning around, Naruto takes a look at the new kid. He is young maybe around Gray's age. Naruto could now say he knows of two people with naturally pink hair. His clothes are rather plain and nondescript except the scarf he wears around his neck.

"Why would I fight you?" Naruto asks confused.

"You beat Erza, and I lost to her, so I want to fight you," he says with an air of confidence.

Looking between his surrounding guildmates and guildmaster with confusion, Naruto says, "Does anyone else notice the lack of logic in that statement."

"You get used to it," Erza says will pulling her boot back on.

Gray slaps the back of Natsu's head. "You lost to me why would you want to fight him?"

"He is strong, so I want to fight him." Natsu says with simplicity.

Getting a better reading on the boy before him, Naruto thinks to himself, _"He is the type to never give up even when he knows he is beaten." _"Fine, I will fight you."

"Really," Grays says gobsmacked, "I have never known you to go pick a fight with someone."

Naruto shakes his head. "I never go looking for one if I can avoid it, but I won't run from one either."

Erza thinks to herself, _"Master is suspiciously quite about all this."_

Pumping his fist into the air, Natsu throws the first punch.

Naruto catches the offending appendage with ease and predictable grace. "This won't take long, but make some room."

The three of them put some distance between them and the fighters. Not that they believe a stray attack will hit them, but more out of courtesy.

"I am all fired up," Natsu says with wisps of flames coming off his fists.

"If you say so," Naruto says nonchalantly and shrugs his shoulders.

For some reason, that seems to well light a fire underneath Natsu's ass, metaphorically. Coating his fist with flames, he throws a wide right hook at Naruto's face.

"_Too wide,"_ the green haired boy thinks to himself. He puts his left hand up to block the oncoming fist with ease careful not to touch the flames.

"Fight me," Natsu says with actual fire spewing from his mouth, literally.

"I am fighting you," Naruto says in his uncaring voice.

"Fight me," Natsu says again. The pink haired boy throws his a wide left hook with fire covering it.

Again Naruto puts up the corresponding arm to block the attack and again careful to not touch the flames.

"Fight me."

"I am."

"No, you are just reacting," Natsu spews.

"_Fine," _Naruto thinks to himself. He pushes Natsu's arms away from his body to get inside Natsu's guard. Naruto slams his palms into Natus's chest sending him careening away.

"We done here," Naruto says again in his nonchalant voice.

"Not until you fight me," Natsu says with his fired up voice while standing up and charges.

X

"Master," Gray says, "why does Natsu keep saying fight me even though Naruto is fighting him?"

"Hmmm, you don't notice," Makarov says not in his cheery grandfather tone but his business tone.

"No…what should I be noticing?"

"If you have not figured it out, then I cannot tell you," Makarov says cryptically.

"I don't understand…"

Interrupting, Erza says, "I notice it."

"Notice what?" Gray says confused.

"Just watch," Erza says in a commanding tone.

Gulping, Gray watches the beat down Naruto gives Natsu.

X

"We are done," Naruto says while looking down at the panting and beaten boy beneath him.

Wheezing out, Natsu says, "No, not until you fight me."

"I did and I won."

"No, you just reacted," Natsu says with anger.

"Reacting is how I fight. I let you expend your energy then hit you hard and fast."

"That isn't fighting," he says with anger.

"I am leaving," Naruto says while turning around.

Natsu summons his inner strength to stand to his feet and charge at the infuriating boy walking away.

Naruto hears the boy standing behind and thinks, _"Don't do it…Don't do it."_ Just Natsu tries to tackle the older boy, he sidesteps and uses his foot to trip the enraged Natsu.

"Now we are done," Naruto says planting his knee in Natsu's stomach. Natsu struggles to breathe after losing all the air in his lungs. Taking this chance, Naruto pinches Natsu's neck knocking the boy unconsciousness.

Standing up, the words 'fight me' ring in Naruto's mind as he walks back inside the guild for some grub. As he walks by the Gray, Erza, and the guildmaster, they all notice his sour mood.

Makarov thinks to himself, _"Let this be your first lesson in the strength of conviction, Naruto."_

**Please review**

**I really did not want to write another fight scene so soon, but I wanted Natsu to beat Naruto emotionally. I wanted Naruto to learn some important lessons.**

**I put a poll on my profile page asking what pairing you want. Keep this in mind, I will make the final decision, but I do want to know your opinion on the matter because it will play a small part. There are only five choices, but more can be added if requested.**


	6. New Adventure

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

"_Thinking/extract from book/writing"_

"**Yelling/Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 7/3/2014

XXXXXXX

"Finally, my nice comfortable flower," Naruto says as he falls into his own personal creation, the flower bed.

It had been a long five week escort job to the middle of nowhere and back. Plus, he and the client had to travel through a desert. Let's just say a tree cannot grow where there is no water to be found. Then, as soon as he came back to the guild, everyone swarmed him because the client he had to protect was some kind of celebrity apparently.

Naruto did not really see the big deal about a movie star, but everyone crowded around him asking for details. So, he told the truth. He is a stuck up, arrogant illegitimate child acting as if he owned the world. That seemed to deflate them somewhat, but enough for him to slip out without too much hassle.

Just as Naruto's body finishes the journey to touching the blissful world of softness and nirvana and his eyes clamp shut like an air tight seal, his house creaks.

Everyone's house creaks and pops every now and again. It is a natural occurrence from the wood decaying, expansion and contraction from temperature, and/or too much weight in a localized area. The problem however is that Naruto's house does not pop, creak, snap, moan, or make any other normal sound. Naruto designed his house to never do those things mostly because of his paranoia, and the sounds are synonymous to fingernails on a chalkboard to Naruto.

The house itself defines modesty, especially for someone that can literally craft a mansion inside a day, two if being technical plus the time to install water, electricity, and gas systems.

Once Naruto found the joys of using an indoor toilet and actual toilet paper, he never went back.

The bigger the house the more likely tree branches, complete with leaves and apples, can appear randomly throughout the house. Once Naruto has grown something, the process to remove the offending growth can take several times longer to remove.

After building up enough money, Naruto bought a small piece of land behind the guild and within view of the lake that he loves so much. The house's front porch overlooks the lake with a perfect view of the sunrise and sunset.

The house is pretty much a square and in term of square footage and more closely resembles a fancy shed than a house. Built in the more traditional style, there are no doors, but the front porch side opens by sliding apart from the middle. It has all the necessary things like running water. For a boy that is the polar opposite of a pack rat, the house suits his needs just fine.

The popping noise causes Naruto's body to stop falling into nirvana midway. "Who is there?" he calls out into the small house.

The house is silent for a moment before the door panel to the bathroom slides open. A man completely hidden by a traveler's cloak walks out. He pulls back the cloak's hood to reveal wrappings around his nose and below down to his shirt's collar and a rag wrapped around his hair. "Master is right; you are good."

Naruto pushes himself into a standing position but with his knees slightly bent just in case. He grows a bioluminescent vine from his forearm to for light. Any surprise by the sudden light source glowing from a vine grown from nowhere shown on the man's face is hidden by the wrappings.

"Let's see. A man comes to me in the middle of the night wearing clothing that breaks up his form and hides the majority of his face. Not to mention mentioning his master, but not by name. You aren't racking up to many trust-worthy points here," Naruto says wearily.

The man lets out a pregnant chuckle. Naruto unconsciously cocks his head to the side.

"I mean no harm," the man says in a unthreatening way.

"I have yet to determine that," Naruto counters with an edge to it.

"My master is your master as well," the man says with mirth.

"The old man sent you?" Naruto questions him. When the man responds by nodding his head, Naruto asks, "Why?"

"I require your help finding someone," he says cryptically.

Putting up his arm, "Before this conversation goes any further, show me your crest," Naruto commands.

The man pauses for a moment before pulling back the sleeve of his cloak and wrapping the bandages around his left forearm. Sure enough, a black Fairy Tail symbol is on his arm. **(1)**

Many people can fake a guild crest, but typically, it takes a higher quality fake to trick a mage and especially one of the guild that the crest belongs to. The symbol on the strange man's arm is not a knock off. The fakes usually don't have the back part of the tail of the crest; this crest does have one.

"We cool?" the mysterious man asks.

"Enough to not throw you out of my house," the owner of the house says while unbending his knees. "Not 'cool' enough to track a person for you though."

The man reaches inside of his cloak with this right hand. As he reaches for the object inside his clothing, a vine wraps around his neck and pulls him against the wall. In truth, the man could have avoided it, but dodging the vine would not endear the attacker to his cause.

"I was just reaching for a letter in my pocket," the man rasps out with a bit of chocking to his voice. In his defense, the vine is restricting air flow.

"Uh huh," Naruto replies skeptically. Naruto walks up to the man and reaches inside the mystery man's cloak pocket. Digging around, Naruto feels lint and some coin, but he does pull out a letter.

"I see I am telling the truth," the man wheezes out.

Naruto eyes the man and gestures with the letter in his hand.

"It is for you."

Naruto opens the letter and waves his bioluminescent vine over the letter.

X

_Dear Naruto,_

_The man before you that you have probably already been given your form of hospitality is in fact the mysterious Mystogan. I am sure you have heard the rumors of a new member never showing his face and uses __**Sleep**__ magic to ensure this fact. Earlier this day, he came to me asking who is the guild's most powerful member with tracking experience. Naturally, I thought of you._

_Please assist Mystogan with whatever he needs. Remember he is family._

_Yours Truly, _

_Master Makarov_

X

"_It looks like the old man's silly handwriting and it even has that poorly drawn stick figure of him giving the peace sign,"_ Naruto thinks to himself with some skepticism.

Naruto thinks for a few seconds longer before saying, "Fine, if the old man wants me to help you then I will." Naruto waves his hand and the vine around Mystogan's neck falls to the ground.

However, Naruto immediately grabs Mystogan's clothes under the cloak and heaves him off the wall with **Force** magic. It is quite the feat to begin with because the man has at least six inches on him. Naruto however slams him back against the wall hard enough to force the air from the man's lungs. "But we do things my way. Period!"

The man is silent before saying, "I believe we can come to an arrangement of some kind."

"Good," Naruto says with some triumph, "First things first we start tomorrow."

"I would have preferred to start today…"

"We start tomorrow," Naruto commands.

Mystogan nods his head slightly.

"Secondly, I need a photo or something to identify him with otherwise this will just become a big needle in a hay stack with all of Fiore as the hay."

"I can provide a photo of him and a last known location," Mystogan says.

"That is a starting point," Naruto says with some happiness to his voice. Knowing who you are tracking and a starting point makes things infinitely easier. "Finally, I want to see your face."

"…That is a deal breaker," Mystogan says after a pause and with extreme caution.

Bringing Mystogan off of the wall, Naruto slams him against the wall again far more violently and roughly than before. Earlier might have well have been a love tap compared to this manhandling.

Naruto grits his teeth and forces out, "I don't know how the old man let you in the guild in the first place, but I don't like people that won't show me their face. I find people like you disgraceful to the name of Fairy Tail."

"SO, you do care about Fairy Tail," Mystogan taunts slightly, "Master told me you don't care about anyone or anything except for your morning sunrise and a certain red…"

Mystogan does not get to finish that sentence before Naruto throws him off the wall and onto the floor and puts his boot to Mystogan's neck. "Don't bring Red into this scum."

Mystogan grabs Naruto's foot in a vain attempt to allow more than a meager amount of air to pass through his throat and into the all-important lungs to provide the red blood cells with oxygen. "It seems…that you…have a…fetish for…chocking people."

Crouching down, Naruto brings his face within an inch of Mystogan's covered face and purposefully postions the glowing vine in such a way that it makes Naruto's face looks very menacing, "You have two choices here. Either show me your face or leave my house."

Naruto removes his foot from Mystogan's and takes a step back after he stands up.

Mystogan tries to stand, but Naruto places his foot on his chest keeping him from moving further. "Your answer or I won't let you up."

The entire conversation Naruto has been making power plays. Basically, Naruto keeps saying, _"My way or the high way."_ The foot on the chest is just the latest play. And it has nothing to do with his lack of sleep and irritation from the last mission.

Mystogan lies back down and stays silent for several minutes. Finally, Naruto hears him sigh and say, "Fine, I will show you my face, but tell no one of whom I look like."

Nodding, Naruto grabs Mystogan's cloak with both hands and pulls him to his feet in a way that makes it look easy to just lug around at least one hundred and fifty pound man.

Mystogan brushes off the metaphorical dirt off his clothes before pulling the rag off his hair and the wraps around his face to reveal a not so grown up face.

Mystogan with his face hidden could easily pass for a full grown man. His build is that not muscular but his height and his already developed body hint at a man's form not an adolescent one.

His face on the other hand still has all the tell-tale signs of adolescence. While there is not much fat on his, a little bit defies puberty. He does not have facial hair growing on the sides of his face, but his upper lip has wisps of hair growing. He does however have a very distinctive type hair color, blue, and he has a tribal tattoo over his right eye from this forehead to the bottom of his check bone. Who he is, is far more surprising however.

Stunned, Naruto takes an involuntary step back. "S-Siegrain," he stumbles over his words. Had Naruto not been utterly dumbfounded he might have said, 'Man someone sure did drink his milk.'

"Yes and no," the blue haired man replies.

Straightening his back, Naruto says, "Explain."

"It is a long story."

"I have time."

Rubbing his tattoo with his right hand, Mystogan/Siegran begins, "I am not from this universe exactly…"

If Naruto was not paying attention before he is now.

"…I come from a universe called Edolas. This universe runs parallel to yours in just about every aspect; the only difference is that in my native universe there is no magic…"

"_Well I am…saddened that he is not from my world, but the parallel world thing I was not expecting…I wonder how parallel our worlds are," _Naruto's mind whirls from the information.

"…Somehow our worlds touched long ago, but long enough for some eternano and a few of our people to cross the event horizon. Over the centuries, we longed for the wonders of magic, but without a constant supply of eternano we could not use magic without fear of losing it. So we built a machine long before my time that used up the remaining magic in Edolas."

Mystogan pauses and looks around for a moment before pulling up Naruto's desk chair as Naruto sits down on his flower bed. "As you can imagine the risks involved, but against all odds it worked. We opened a portal to your world that allowed eternano to pass through, but not enough to incite eternano to form in our world as we had hoped."

Mystogan rubs his tattoo a little harder. "As time passed, my people started to open the anima, the universe collider, more openly and without concern for anyone that passed through. They went so far as to send some of my people through the anima to your world to set up a machine to guide the anima openings. Instead of forests or the sky, they opened the anima in populated urban areas basically killing everyone in the affected area by turning them into lacrima."

Mystogan practically rubs his tattoo raw. "I couldn't handle what my people are doing, so I crossed the anima myself and have been closing the anima portals. I hid my face because my counterpart is apparently well known as an up and coming wizard saint and potential member of the magic council."

Mystogan slams his hand against desk. "I cannot atone for the lives my people have taken, but I can stop the anima portals from opening in crowded areas…I need your help though. The man I am chasing has the device to stabilize the portals, and if I take out the device then people will stop dying…Will you help me?"

Naruto runs his hair through his hair because honestly he does not know what to think. He had always figured that other worlds could exist, but this is far from what he ever expected.

"I don't care," Naruto says that absolutely floors Mystogan, "but you are a part of Fairy Tail and the old man asked me to help you, so I will. But let me be clear, I am no hero. I could care less about other people's problems."

"B-But you're a part of a guild that solves other people's problems," Mystogan stumbles a bit, but on the inside a little relieved.

"All part of the job," Naruto says with a nonchalant attitude. "The reason why I am still with Fairy Tail is because the people respect my boundaries…mostly, and living here pays better than living than in a forest."

"Forest?" Mystogan asks confused.

Naruto brushes the question off by saying, "I used to live in a forest before here."

The two are silent for a long awkward moment both absorbed in their own individual thoughts.

Finally Mystogan says, "Soooo, I will meet you at the train station at ten tomorrow."

Naruto looks at the clock on the night stand by his flower. _"That gives me a few hours of sleep."_ "Sure, ten tomorrow."

Mystogan rewraps his face to hide his adolescent face and makes a move to leave, but before he does, he asks, "If you don't fight for others, who or what do you fight for. From personal experience, potential S-rank mages usually have some motivation of some kind."

Naruto looks at him before lying down in his flower and fake snores.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Why do you have to leave again," a young girl with silver hair asks Naruto.

"I told you before, Mira, I want to be a S-rank mage, and by helping Mystogan I can show the old man that I care about other people," Naruto says with his back turned packing up some clothes.

"I still cannot believe that you saw Mystogan's face," Erza grumbles the other occupant in the room.

"But you said you would help me control my magic better," Mirajane cries out.

"I do feel bad about that," Naruto says sheepishly while turning around, "But Mystogan needs my help more."

"We have made so much progress though," Mirajane says while holding up her arm, "I finally got my arm to look normal again. I don't want to lose the momentum."

"Again, I am sorry, but apparently this thing with Mystogan is more important," Naruto says with a frown.

"So that is it. I am not important enough," Mirajane stomps her foot on the ground. She lets out a single tear and storms out when Naruto doesn't say anything.

"MIRA," Naruto calls out and runs after her, but the silver haired girl has already left. Running his hand through his hair, Naruto comes back to the house with Erza giving him the look.

"Don't say anything," Naruto says and continues to pack.

"Fine," she says while examining her nails and wipes a speck of dirt off her armor, "I won't say anything about how you hurt her."

Naruto pauses and lets an angry frown show on his, but he schools his features before turning to Erza. "Tell me what I did wrong this time."

"For starters, you told a girl that has a crush on you that she is not important," Erza says plainly. Naruto always responds better when people are either forceful or blunt.

"Mirajane does not have a crush on me," Naruto denies with resolute, "Also I never said anything about her not being important."

"Really, because that is not what I heard."

Naruto rubs his face in irritation. "I did not say she is not important."

Erza shrugs her shoulder, "Well whether or not you meant it that is what she heard."

Naruto pauses and lets his irritation at the situation show on his face in the form of a hard stare and pout. "Why me," he finally says.

"Well," Erza begins, "You spent an entire week working on her magic desperately trying to get it under control, so her hand would look normal again. That would be enough to gain the friendship of most people, but really sent her over the edge was that you showed and still show tenderness and patience to a degree that even her own sibling have not shown her…baring the earlier scene."

"…I will apologize to her when I get back but, I am about to be late." Naruto says looking at his clock still with his pout. "Check up on the house every once in a while."

"Of course," Erza says.

Naruto picks up his bag and makes a move to leave but Erza steps in his path with her arms held out wide.

"Erza…" Naruto begins but he is silenced by Erza snapping her fingers and gives him her look again. "…Fine."

They hug in a tight embrace before extracting themselves from the hug.

"See you later, Red."

"Bye Leafy."

To his credit Naruto grumbles only a little bit.

XXXXXXX

"Where are we headed," Naruto asks Mystogan ever clad in a form obscuring clothes with only eyes being the only part of his skin showing.

Mystogan turns to Naruto and says, "Nassau," while taking in Naruto's attire. Last night, Mystogan had seen Naruto wearing only animal hide leather pants and socks. Now he wears a mottled green and black muscle shirt and tight fitting, but flexible brown cargo pants. He also has a sack with a rope around the neck slung over his shoulder. "I like you new wardrobe. More appropriate than just pants."

"Haha very funny," Naruto mock laughs before going serious, "The town with all the dark guilds and turf wars going on that the rune knights won't even go near."

"The one and only," Mystogan says with a smile that Naruto cannot see.

"Remind me why we want to save some of the worst people on the planet," Naruto asks confused.

"Because he only uses the place as only a hideout," Mystogan says, "He goes to other villages and town for using the device."

"Basically, he doesn't shit where he eats," Naruto asks.

"In a nut shell," Mystogan says before pointing to the time on the overhead screen for the train they want. "We have a thirty minute wait and it will take us seven hours to get there."

"Let us get our tickets then," Naruto says.

XX

The train ride had gone by quickly enough. Mystogan had gone to sleep within the first few minutes, and Naruto stared out the window watching the scenery go bye.

It relaxes Naruto in a way he cannot understand.

A voice come on over the intercom, "Attention all passengers, we are approaching Nassau and will arrive in five minuts. Please get off if this is your final destination. Thank you riding Hearfilia Railways."

The voice rouses Mystogan from his slumber. "Finally, my muscles are getting stiff."

"I can understand that," Naruto says, "I need that picture now."

Mystogan nods, pulls it out, and hands it over.

What Naruto sees annoys him. His face is barely visible because the picture is blurry and the camera only captured the right side of his face. Still there are some identifiable features. He wears a purple rag around his probably bald head, and he has a deep painful looking burn scar covering the entirety of his cheek. "This will have to do," Naruto mumbles.

"What was that?" Mystogan asks.

"Huh…Oh, I just said that I know a person that might be able to help us."

"Look I know it is pretty bad…"

"No, it is just fine," Naruto says with some honesty, "I have a couple of contacts around Nassau from earlier jobs."

"Well, that is helpful," Mystogan says relieved that this won't turn into a giant game of hid and seek except with knives and broken bones. He is also a bit surprised that Naruto has been here before.

"One last thing," Naruto begins, "The people here aren't friendly to even each to other and outsiders can often be found dead in an alley."

"What do you suggest?"

"Well…with your face hidden and your height, you can pass for a grown man, so we are going to play a game of employer and employee," Naruto says with a frown.

"So, you are going to be my bodyguard," Mystogan clarifies.

"Look these people respect only coin and power. We don't have the former in large amounts, but we do have the power…at least I do…"

"I can hold my own," Mystogan interrupts.

"…I am sure you can, but these people don't play fair. They will attack from every direction and with multiple people, and I have fought against such odds before," Naruto says with all seriousness.

Mystogan rubs his tattoo through his mask and head rag. "Fine, I will play the part of employer."

"Good," Naruto says with a smile, "_When_ people attack us, let me do the fighting unless necessary to keep up appearances."

"Fine, but I have to say that our odds are not looking good."

"How so?"

"Two adolescent teens floundering around a pretty dangerous place that does not make for a happy story," Mystogan says letting only a trace amount of fear into his voice. In his defense, they are only thirteen and fourteen respectively going into a place that even the rune knights won't touch. The only reason why Fiore even claims ownership of the place is because it is right in the middle of the country.

"It will be fine," Naruto says for reassurance, "I told you that did a few jobs here before so relax. Plus, you are the one who wanted to come here."

"I am already starting to regret it," Mystogan states.

XX

Mystogan took one step off the train, and he instantly wanted to get back on. Nassau maybe not be the friendliest of places, but could it at least be clean and sanitary.

The rancid air not only burns the nostrils, but it can actually be tasted. Graffiti signs of crude, offensive, and just plain wrong origins cover just about every single inch of surface of the walls, floors, and ceilings. A couple of feral dogs can be seen eating out of a trash can.

The people aren't much better too. A couple of dudes with piercings all over their head stand by the exit casing the joint for easy targets. A dead body lies near the trash can where the dogs are. A man and a woman are getting it on inside the bathroom. The reason why people can see them doing the deed is because the bathroom door at some point in time had been ripped off. The most grotesque thing however is that Mystogan is not sure if that girl having sex with the man is really a girl.

"Let's leave," Mystogan says hastily.

"I am inclined to agree," Naruto says with acceptance, "but unless you want your man to walk around with impunity then we need to stop him."

Shaking his head, Mystogan sees the reason of his companion's words. He did have to like them however. "I suggest we finish this quickly."

"Agreed."

X

Naruto and Mystogan kept to the more populated roads and areas. Both of them do not like the idea of going into a small alley even for a moment. While Naruto is more than confident about his odds, he doesn't want unnecessary trouble. Still the main roads are covered in litter and foot traffic. They are also pretty small to begin with. Most people are shoulder to shoulder half the time, and when they aren't quite so close, they are frantically checking their pockets.

The buildings around this place look even worse than the train station and roads. Most are decrepit and in poor health covered in spray paint. Some have dark guild signs while others just have random crap. Once, the duo even saw someone just lean on a particularly unstable building. The whole building just collapsed in on itself.

A couple of cats ran by with that glint in their eyes saying 'come near me or I will bit your head off.'

Prostitutes come up to random people asking for jewels in return for…services. One even did it right in the middle of the street.

Orphans run along the street pickpocketing as much as possible without being seen or steal from the food vendors.

One was even so brazen as to try and steal Naruto's bag. Naruto from his own days as a street rat knew what was happening and immediately grabbed the boy's hand and crushed it with his own. The green head looked deep into the boy's eyes and said, 'Don't steal from people that are faster than you. Next time you try to steal from me, I will break your hand got it.'

It was harsh but necessary. Naruto could have given the boy food, but he would rather give the kid advice for his betterment. Feed a man a fish and he will full for a day, teach a man to fish and he will be full for a life time.

"How much longer…"Mystogan begins but sees Naruto entering a really seedy bar. _"Please tell me that he did not hire a prostitute."_

Walking inside the bar, Mystogan has to immediately duck because of a flying beer bottle heading his way. Not expecting anyone to apologize or even care unless he forced the issue, the cloaked man looks around for his guide to this rotten city.

He sees him sitting down by the bar stool.

Coming up to him, he asks with some anger, "Why did you try and ditch me?"

Naruto lays down a few coin and gets a beer in return.

"You mean you couldn't tell." Mystogan shakes his head no. "Last time I was here, I stirred up trouble with a dark guild. They warned me to never come back, but I have." Naruto turns his head towards Mystogan. "I would have found you later after I ditched them."

"That is comforting." Mystogan voice drips with sarcasm.

"Really it would have only taken me…shit. They just came in through the front door," Naruto says worried. "I don't want to cause a scene or my contact will disappear."

"He is here? Mystogan asks before turning his head to get a better look.

"Don't look or they will know we are here," Naruto whispers harshly causing the adolescent boy's head to snap around. "Alright here is what we are going to do, you are going to take this beer and go over to that table with the four guys guarding the man that looks like he belongs in pro wrestling to say this 'The fox in the night has nine tails.'

"What?" Mystogan asks incredibly, "I thought _you_ had to talk to the informant."

"I have to deal with these guys because if I don't then the informant will leave," says sneaking glance around the room.

When Mystogan does not immediately leave, Naruto commands in his most powerful voice, "Go now."

Stunned by the voice, Mystogan nods and gets up to greet the informant. After taking a few steps away, he looks back and sees Naruto mouth 'Hurry' before getting up and pretends to stumble like a drunken fool over to the men chasing him.

As Mystogan takes the last agonizingly fast and slow steps to the man that looks like he drinks eggs raw, he thinks to himself, _"Here goes nothing."_

"The nine foxes hunt at night," he says to the bodyguards. Two of them look at each other before grabbing Mystogan's arms and move to throw him out of the building. "Nononono, it was 'The fox in the night has nine tails.' That is it, the password I mean. Naruto sent me."

One of the muscular guards keeps his eyes on Mystogan while the other steps back over to the insanely big informant to whisper in his ear. Stomping the chewing of his food, the man's eyes light up with dollar signs and a smile forms on his face that reaches said dollar signs. He swallows the rest of his food and says in an appropriately deep voice, "Any friend of Naruto of the Forest is welcome at my table." Standing up, he says, "Come sit with me."

"_Be calm, be cool, be…very much afraid of this giant." _Mystogan thinks to himself. In his defense, the man is really big. Imagine the average six foot guy, now give him a foot and a half of height while keeping everything proportional except with muscles on muscles and midnight black skin, and you have what this guy's build is. Oh and a white suit as well.

His voice matches his persona. Take the deepest, most booming, and manliest voice possible and double it to get this guy's voice. **(2)**

"My name is Ruvo "Giant" Moneywells the leader of the dark guild _Black Hand_, but of course you already know my name if you are really friends with the 'Forest'," he booms and offers his hand.

Steeling himself for one of the most intense conversations ever, Mystogan straightens his back and exudes confidence as he shakes the offered hand. "I am sorry, but I merely Naruto's client. I was never supposed to meet any of his clients."

"Ah," he says in a smooth voice and sits down, "Please sit mister…"

"Mystogan." He says as he too sits down with the beer still in hand.

"Mystogan interesting name, and sorry to rude but obviously a fake one," the man says with a smile.

"And Ruvo Moneywells isn't," Mystogan counters.

The man lets out a hearty, booming laugh, "I like you Mystogan," he says before turning somber and more sinister, "Where is Naruto."

Surprised but not overcome with total fear, Mystogan holds up his hand with three of his fingers up. Ruvo's face takes on a confused look and the body guards tense up. Slowly he counts down to zero fingers up, and just as he finishes, a man in the front of the building flies through the air and hits the ceiling. "My employee is currently taking out the trash."

Another man can be seen flying out the window and a burst of fire as well. A lot of the people in the bar begin panicking and flee. The four body guards make a move to enter the fray, but Ruvo waves them off. "Naruto can handle himself," he booms and laughs with mirth, "Now what can a man of my…station can do for you."

"Information," Mystogan says with a calm voice. "I need to know where this man hides," he continues while sliding the picture across the table.

The giant of a man picks up the picture and examines it carefully. He wags his finger at one of his men and speaks in code for a moment. The body guard replies in kind and steps back. "I believe I know who this man is…for a price," the man says with a wicked smile.

"I won't sell my soul or my employee's either," Mystogan replies with a hard tone to his voice.

"I assure you Mr. Mystogan," the man says with a smooth, savvy voice that would have every women weak at the knees and every man to kneel before him, but Mystogan is no ordinary man but one of conviction and honor, "I will allow you to keep your conscious clear. Some men just don't have stomach for what I do."

"Name it then," Mystogan replies.

"For starters tell me why you want one of my rival guild's lieutenants," the Ruvo asks with a curious tone to his resonating voice.

Mystogan pauses for a moment before saying, "He has a device I want."

"What kind of device?"

"One that will not exist for much longer."

The man lets out a chuckle. "The man is paranoid to the extreme and rarely seen out from under his rock. I will tell you where his rock is if you slip this," the man holds out his hand to which one of his men place an electronic device surrounding a lacrima in said hand, "into his guild master's chambers." The man then offers the bug on his hand to Mystogan.

"_That adds a certain degree of difficulty to the mission, but if he says that the man rarely leaves the guild hall, then it might be possible," _Mystogan ponders the situation before saying, "Deal." He takes the bug from the giant's hand.

"Excellent," the man says with his sinister smile, "Let us drink to our mutual arrangement." The man then picks up his beer mug and downs the entire thing in one go. Mystogan uncertainly pops the cap on his own beer and gets half of it down. _"Bitter,"_ he thinks to himself.

The giant of a man reaches into his pocket for a pen. He subscribes something onto a piece of paper which one of his body guards provide. "Here is his rock," the man's smile lessens somewhat, "Happy Hunting."

Mystogan picks up the paper, stands, and nods politely before leaving the area to find Naruto.

**Please review**

(1) **I am not sure where Mystogan's guild mark is, so I just made it up. Anyone that wants to leave me a message about where it actually is, I am more than happy to fix that**

(2) **If you want inspiration for Ruvo think of the King Pin from Daredevil.**


	7. Best Friends?

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

"_Thinking/extract from book/writing"_

"**Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 7/13/2014

XXXXXXX

As Mystogan walks away from the table with the leader of a well-known dark guild, Mystogan's steps come fast and furious. He almost trips over his own feet from his impatience to get away from that man. _"Oh gosh, he could have killed me if I became careless with my words…That had to have been the most intimidating man ever!"_

Coming back to the bar, Mystogan fails to see his companion. He looks around the place before asking the bar tender, "Have you seen my friend? Green hair and three parallel scars on each cheek."

With a very gruff voice while washing a glass mug, he says, "I know him, the kid with the whiskers. I threw him out because he was making too much ruckus with the locals. I mean really who goes up to guys from Bane's crew and starts trouble."

"_Bane has to be some kind of guild master, but he makes it sound like Naruto started the trouble in the first place," _Mystogan thinks to himself for a moment. "Did he start the trouble or did the others start the fight."

"He did definitely," the tender says, "Most people don't think that we, the people behind the bar, don't see what happens, but we do. We have a birds eye view see…" The man proceeds to ramble about how he knows everything probably in an attempt to get some jewels for information.

"_Why would Naruto lie about being followed in the first place…If he did lie, he must have really intended to ditch me…Ruvo knows Naruto on a first name basis, so he has to be well known enough for the members of the guilds to know he is out of the average joe's league and that battle did not last long," _Mystogan's mind races from one thought to the next. "Thanks I have to be going."

"Well you going to pay me," the man says.

"What for?"

"That beer you drinking dumbass."

The adolescent boy looks down at his hand and such enough another half-drunk beer bottle is in his hands. Not knowing how that happened and how he missed the bitter taste, Mystogan just nods and pulls out a few jewels and hands them over.

"Thank you for your business," the man smiles. A couple of teeth are missing. The smile sends a small shiver up Mystogan's spine.

Walking out of the bar, Mystogan coughs a little bit. Some reason, the air in the bar is far cleaner than the outside air. _"Air conditioning maybe," _Mystogan thinks to himself before walking around aimlessly. Naruto would find him.

He wanders around Nassau with his hands on his valuables. At every intersection, he looks right and left for his companion and tries to stay out of trouble. Just as he passes a small alleyway, a hand grabs his shoulder and roughly pulls.

Twisting his body, Mystogan adds his own momentum to the pull. Instead of having his back towards the attacker and a knife burying itself in his kidneys, he has his front facing the attacker his hands around the attacker's neck.

"Now who has the chocking fetish," Naruto says with a coy smile.

Putting his hands back in his pockets, Mystogan says, "I though alleyways are off limits."

"They are not safe for traveling through, but for a quick meeting, they work just fine," Naruto says before turning his head to look down the sketchy looking alley. "What did you find out?"

Mystogan hands over the paper with the location on it, "We also have to put a bug in the guild master's room. Ruvo wouldn't have told us where is otherwise."

"Dammit," Naruto swears.

"What?"

"No, it's fine, but you shouldn't have agreed to the bug part," Naruto says with frustration.

"What was I supposed to do then," Mystogan argues, "The man could of have killed me had I stepped out of bounds. I am not too keen on losing by life."

"You could of have negotiated down, but you are right," Naruto says in defeat, "I sent you in blind without prior knowledge. The man he wants us to bug is his chief rival _Dark Hand_, and if we do bug him, we would be handing Ruvo all of Nassau on a silver platter." Naruto kicks the wall in frustration. "I wish that those men had not been tailing me."

With Naruto bringing the subject up, Mystogan figures this to be the perfect opportunity to bring up his doubts.

"I put my trust in you," Mystogan shakes his head, "I want to know that it wasn't misplaced."

"What are you talking…"

Interrupting, Mystogan raises his voice a bit but not enough to attract attention from the people in the main street, "You _know_ what I am talking about." Poking Naruto's chest when he doesn't reply, Mystogan grits out, "The bar tender told me that you started the fight."

"Yeah so I could get the drop on them," Naruto says with a confused and innocent voice.

Shaking his finger at him, Mystogan counters, "You know; I could believe that until Ruvo is thrown into the mix. Had your informant been a skinny, slimy, and cowardly man, we wouldn't be having this conversation, but Ruvo is none of those things."

Poking Naruto's chest again, Mystogan continues his rant, "Ruvo's size and charisma tells me that the man wouldn't run from any fight especially with back up. Even if he was caught on enemy turf, it would be a calculated move meant to send a message. So tell me right here and now why you tried to ditch me then had me meet with Ruvo."

While Mystogan had been talking, Naruto's anger kept rising to a boiling point. With an angry and threatening snarl, he says, "You have no right to question me."

Mystogan yells back, "I HAVE EVERY RIGHT WHEN YOU PUT MY LIFE IN DANGER."

The two boys stare into each other's hate filled eyes for what seems like an eternity. In that eternity, they learn, master, and forget telepathy.

They create majestic castles in their minds to weather the mental war. Trebuchets throw rotting cows and skyscraper sized boulders, oil so hot that it bubbles over falls down the castle walls, spies assassinate important nobles, and propaganda is spread across the people's mind.

Just as Naruto claims victory, Mystogan snatches victory from utter defeat.

Naruto averts his gaze downward before turning his head in defeat. "I am sorry," he says quietly.

Mystogan's face softens, not that Naruto can see, "Tell me why then."

"We have company," Naruto says with a heavy heart and happiness that the conversation is ending.

Mystogan turns his head in the direction of the alley. Two sleazy looking men with metal spikes coming out of their bald head brandish a lead pipe and a combat knife respectively.

"We _will_ finish this later," Mystogan says taking up his defensive position.

"You take the one of the left, and I will take the one on the right," Naruto says with glee in his voice. A can of whoop ass is exactly what he needs right know.

"Works for me," Mystogan says in his own happy voice.

XXXX

The fight took all of five seconds. Naruto had left his opponent upside down with his foot tied to vine. Mystogan gave his opponent a poorly done nose job and took a few of his metal spikes from his head. After the fight, the two of them agreed that Nassau is not the place for a civil conversation, so they agreed to meet up at the outskirts of the gang run city.

At the current moment, Mystogan sits in the car he had rented waiting for Naruto. The green haired boy had said he needed to pick something up and left to do so. Two objectives, two people, it is basic logic; however, Mystogan had told Naruto that this car would be the Car of Confrontation.

As time passes, his patience wears thin and boredom sets in. All too soon, the boy's head bobs up and down along with his eyelids becoming too heavy keep open.

"We gonna trade places or what," a voice come from Mystogan's right.

Startled, Mystogan instinctively grabs one of his staves and attempts to put the combat end in the unidentified person's face. The assailant grabs it before Mystogan can get the business end of it in the direction of the attacker.

"What kind of magic do you use? You beat the crap out of that guy in the alley with just your fists. Actually, I didn't know you could even use magic." Abruptly alert, Mystogan notices that the unknown person is in fact Naruto.

"Good lord Naruto," Mystogan exclaims withdrawing his staff, "give a person a heart attack why don't you."

With a cheery mood, Naruto smiles far too brightly, "I try, but seriously we going to trade places because you don't have magic."

Glancing around, Mystogan notices that he is in the driver's seat with the vehicle switched onto lacrima power. Shaking his head, Mystogan slips out the driver's seat, flips the switch over to mage power, and walks behind the car allowing Naruto to slide into the driver's seat.

The car is pretty simple. The driver and passenger seat aren't covered so they are open to the elements, but the car does have a covered back seat. The car only has one difference from the average factory standard model and that is a lacrima setting. With Mystogan's glaring lack of internal magic, he used what little money he did have on him and the money Naruto gave him for an upgraded version that can use magic from a lacrima rather than a mage.

With Earthland having magic, the technology in this universe consists of far more primitive devices. The cars back in Edolas have at least ten times the miles per lacrima.

Still the car is pretty nice. All the windows are still intact and the engine purrs like cat. A little beat up with some dents in it, but it works just fine for their needs. As Mystogan admires the car, he looks through the back window and sees a man gagged and tied unconscious. _"Oh hell no."_

"I am not going to be an accessory to a kidnapping," Mystogan grits out as he slips into the passenger seat. "Is he what you needed to get?"

"You noticed that uh," Naruto replies still in his cheery mode though it is fading. He waves his hand in a placating gesture, "I told you earlier that the rune knights don't come here, so basically any criminal activity goes unpunished. And yes, he is what I picked up."

"NARUTO," Mystogan yells glad that they are in much danger of being interrupted by gang bangers again, "It doesn't matter if we kidnap him here or in the capitol; it matters that we are going it."

"You are really dead set on this," Naruto says which causes Mystogan to shake his head emphatically, "Well; kidnapping him is the only way that I know of getting us into the guild master's lair. If it helps, thinks of us as bounty hunters."

Shaking his head in frustration, Mystogan asks, "What is your plan exactly?"

"Simple, you walk straight into the guild with this guy being drug around like a trophy. I make a big fuss outside causing everyone to scurry around like ants. You then incapacitate the guild master while slipping the bug in his office. You then leave with our man, and we go home. Pretty good eh," Naruto says with a happy smile, "I thought of it while we beat up those guys in the alley."

Rubbing his tattoo, Mystogan replies, "How am I supposed to incapacitate a guild _master_?"

"This particular _master_," Naruto says with air quotes, "is more of a business man than a warrior."

"The plan will have to do because I cannot think of anything else," Mystogan sighs, "Now back to our earlier discussion now that the necessities are over."

Sighing Naruto says, "I feel like our positions are reversed."

"How so?"

"When we first meet, I was questioning your motives, and now you are questioning mine."

"What you were doing was more like interrogation, not questioning," Mystogan says with a small laugh.

"To be fair, you did sneak into my house after a very long and tiring mission in the dead of night," Naruto counters.

"Was the chocking really necessary?" Mystogan says with a pointed stare.

"Was hiding in my bathroom prudent," Naruto counters again.

"I had to pee, and now you are just stalling, Naruto," Mystogan says cutting off the good hearted argument.

"Fine," Naruto sighs. Struggling to admit the truth, he continues, "I ditched you because I didn't want you to see me interact with that...that man."

"I knew you ditched me," Mystogan says a little happy with his detective skills, a smidge mad at the confirmation, and a lot worried at how Naruto phrased his description of Ruvo. "What do you mean by interact?"

"H-He is my own personal devil," Naruto says with intense melancholy. "I am convinced that god put that man on this earth solely to punish me."

"I don't understand," Mystogan says with confusion.

"I haven't told anyone this not even Erza, but back when Natsu first joined the guild, I took a simple mission to destroy a small dark guild called _Killer Wasp_ before it could get off the ground." Sighing Naruto says, "However, I was cocky and arrogant. It cost me greatly."

"I am sensing a back story here," Mystogan says as he bumps his shoulder against Naruto's.

Shaking his head at Mystogan, Naruto says, "What can I say? I overestimated myself and underestimated them. I nearly lost an arm in that battle. Anyways, I won, but only just. Ruvo who had been coming to see this new guild encroaching into his turf, saw the battle. For some reason, instead of killing me, he took me to a healer and paid for the expenses himself."

"I am seeing where this is going," Mystogan says with understanding, "Let me guess he forced you into a situation you couldn't refuse."

"Yes, he did. He saved my life when he could have killed me, so the sense that I owed him helped. It started off with a simple job to just steal some files for him from an even worse man, easy enough right. Wrong, I wound up alerting everyone." Naruto puts his hands in his head so that Mystogan cannot see his face. "I ended up killing everyone in that compound," he chokes out.

"Naruto, I am sorry that you killed those people. I am sure that Master…"

"NO," Naruto says violently and wiping his head out of hands. "The old man can never find out about my actions during those two months. If he did, he would kick me out of the guild."

"Is that when you came back to Fairy Tail," Mystogan asks curious after a moment's pause.

"No," Naruto shakes his head, "I spent the next two months killing for him."

"Why?" Mystogan asks confused. It shows in his voice and his eyes.

Naruto balls his fists. "He planned the mission to go horribly wrong because he videotaped the entire thing."

"He what!"

"He videotaped the job. Every detail was caught on high definition." Naruto's magic begins to flare unconsciously.

"How did you get the tape away from him?"

"Who says I did?" Naruto says plainly.

Mystogan's eyes open wide. "He still has the tape."

"Yes," Naruto grits out, "So far he has been content to just let me do as I please, but one day that will change."

"But you came back to Fairy Tail, so how did you get away?"

"The last 'job' I did for him was to assassinate a banker and his family." The anger is evident on his voice.

"Please tell me you didn't touch the family," Mystogan pleads.

Naruto stays silent for a moment before saying, "Piece of advice, don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

"Oh gosh Naruto!" Mystogan exclaims.

"I came back to my room at Ruvo's disgusted at myself for what I had done. Unlike the others I killed, this man was a good man, a family man. The only wrong he committed was denying Ruvo a loan from the bank," Naruto says in a detached voice. If his companion cared to look at Naruto's eyes instead of the floor, he would have seen the entire scene play out on Naruto's eyes. It ends with a spray of blood.

The admission of guilt sends Mystogan's mind into a spiral of more and more disgusting scenes. He finally leans over the side of the vehicle and loses a good portion of his lunch. Feeling quesy, Mystogan asks, "What happened next?"

"I left in the dead of night without anyone seeing me," Naruto says with happiness. After all, it is the only good thing he did during those months.

The sit in an awkward silence before Mystogan asks another question, "Ruvo made a comment about how some men just don't have the stomach for what he does. What did he mean?"

"Remember my piece of advice," Naruto says solemnly.

"One last question," Mystogan says a little afraid Naruto would answer in the same manner. Naruto replies, "Shoot."

"Is this why you don't think of yourself as a hero."

Naruto pauses for a moment before saying, "My first kill happened when I was six," Mystogan's mouth hits the floor, "They were slavers, and I was too young to fully understand the impact that choice had on me. I also spent the next couple of years in a forest killing to survive. The reason I told you that I am no hero is because a hero doesn't have thoughts of 'killing him or her would be easier'. I am afraid that someday I will just give into the desire and just kill everyone on a job."

"…You think you have too much blood on your hands don't you," Mystogan clarifies after a moment. Mystogan neglects to answer that he already has, but of course only jobs that Ruvo gave him.

Naruto nods his head instead of speaking because he is afraid his voice might break.

At this point, Mystogan has two options, get out of the car and leave for _Dark Hand_ himself or be a friend.

"_I am going to hate myself in the morning, but he feels guilt which is a good thing. He just needs a friend."_ Mystogan thinks to himself. "I know this cannot compare to your story, but I have blood on my hands as well, and I still try to save people."

With intense rage, Naruto explodes, "WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF BLOOD? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS CAN COMPARE TO MINE."

With a deadly soft voice, Mystogan says, "My name is Jellal Edolas, First Prince of Edolas and first in line to inherit the throne of my world."

Naruto suddenly reels back as though the very car he sits on just ran him over. Whether from knowing where the conversation is heading or genuine surprise, Mystogan cannot tell.

"So don't tell me that I don't have blood on my hands. What is that saying of the son not having the father's sins? Something like he doesn't inherit them, but that is sooooo wrong. The stains on my father's hands have passed on to me, so don't tell me I know nothing of blood, because I do."

"I am sorry," Naruto says for the second time this day, new record.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Mystogan huffs out the bad air from his lungs. "I tried to be nice, but you just slapped it away."

An incredibly awkward silence befalls the two. Finally, Naruto breaks it by saying, "Uzumaki."

"Huh," Mystogan grunts confused.

"Naruto Uzumaki is my name. I changed it to Naruto of the Forest when I come to this universe."

"Wait this universe?" Mystogan asks confused, "Does that mean you aren't from around here."

Laughing a bit, the green haired boy says, "Not the way I would put it but yes." Naruto scrounges around his travel sack for a moment before taking out a picture. Mystogan tentatively takes the picture from Naruto.

With a loud and boisterous laugh, Mystogan barely gets out, "You looked cute when you were a kid especially with blond hair."

"I kind of grew out of the cute phase and into this sexy, muscular frame," Naruto says with a laugh of his own. The previous air of depression clears faster than a morning fog in a desert.

Mystogan pokes Naruto's squishy arm and says, "Real muscular alright."

Naruto puts this haughty look on his face and says, "I can bench more than you can."

"Brain before brawn," Mystogan counters.

"I am the one making the plans here," Naruto says assured of victory.

Mystogan however weasels his way of it, "Whose idea was it again to ditch me and have me negotiate a bad deal with a criminal overlord."

So began a very long pissing match that would start a friendship that they will take to their graves.

XXXXXX

"How so how exactly do we what to play this?" Mystogan asks with worry.

The intrepid duo set of after they had put down the rulers. It took them about a forty minute drive at full speed to reach the compound. Then, they parked the car in a secure location and approached the bunker on foot. Luckily, the bunker resides inside a forest.

Observing the place from a lower tree branch with good visibility, the duo sits and observes. _"They are smart by burning the trees and underbrush back. Keeps people from sneaking up on them," _Naruto thinks to himself before saying,"That is why we brought mister submissive here," and pats the still tied up and unconscious man's cheek.

"Mister submissive?" Mystogan says with curiousity.

"Well, he is tied up and at our mercy," Naruto says in this really condescending duh tone.

Mystogan shakes his head at the joke, "That has to be the worst joke I have ever heard."

"Everyone is a critic," Naruto mumbles under his breath. "We go in with the same plan. You take this guy's decapitated head and you show it to the guards ensuring you get in without a fight. I wait ten or fifteen minutes before giving you the signal."

"Wait just a moment!" Mystogan exclaims while watching his decibel level. "I am not going to let you kill mister submissive."

"You do like my name for him," Naruto says gleefully. "No, I respect your desire to keep your conscious clean… or well cleaner," he says bumping Mystogan's shoulder.

"Then I will drag his unconscious body to the gate, and…"

Interrupting, Naruto counters, "Let me ask you, what do you think those men down there will do when they see a bounty hunter that hasn't killed his mark?"

"I…I don't know," Mystogan says after a pause.

"They will do the exact same thing I want to do to both him and you," Naruto says plainly. "Fortunately, I respect your wishes and have a way with everyone staying alive at the end of the day."

Naruto hops down off the tree branch with mister submissive with Mystogan following suit. "What are you doing?" Mystogan asks.

"Just watch," Naruto replies. The whiskered boy crouches down over the man's chest and takes off his green and black muscles shirt.

"Wow, what are you doing," Mystogan says with fear. Rape may not be on the same level as killing in Mystogan's book, but it is still pretty high up there.

"For such a saint, you have a really dirty mind," Naruto says pointedly because he knows exactly how it looks. "Just watch."

For a moment, nothing happens, but soon a rather large bump appears on the spinal cord of Naruto's upper back. As it grows, the bump extends from the body before looking distinctly like a head except like the bark from a tree. Soon, the bark becomes pinker and whiter that matches the skin tone of mister submissive. The eyes, nose, mouth, and everything else begins to mimic the incapacitate man's face. Once the face finishes its transformation, a torso looking exactly like tree bark emerges from Naruto's body but with no arms and legs. The whole process take less than twenty seconds.

"I hate doing that," Naruto says with disgust. "It feels like I am growing a third leg."

Mystogan, who had initially jumped back in fright, approaches the 'body' with hesitation. "What is this?" he asks with awe.

"I call this **Wood Clone** except with a twist," Naruto with a tada motion and stands up. "I needed him to come along because the wood clone won't last long, and I cannot remember his face with perfect clarity." A wooden blade extends from his forearm and with one quick and clean motion cuts the fake head off the fake body with a spray of blood.

"What was that for," Mystogan says shocked that Naruto just killed someone.

"Oh relax," Naruto says with a wave of his hand. "The thing is just a prop, and the blood is just sap. I made the tree bark take the appearance of this guys' face." Naruto wipes off a glop of red sap of his shirt and offer it Mystogan.

"No thanks," Mystogan says with disgust.

"More for me then," Naruto says before sticking his finger in his mouth. A moan come from his throat, "Damn this stuff is good."

"I will take your word for it," Mystogan says deeply disturbed. _"I am going to need a therapist after this."_ Mystogan grabs the head and brushes off some of the dirt from where it touched the ground, "So take this to front gate, and they just let me in."

"Pretty much," Naruto says picking up the fake body and throwing it into some nearby underbrush. "I picked him because _Dark Hand_ wants him badly."

"I don't want to know how you know this do I," Mystogan says not asks.

"It might be better for both of us if you don't," Naruto says with all honesty.

"So, why does Ruvo want a bug on this place again?" Mystogan says while wrapping the head with some rope from Naruto's sack before attaching it to his belt. He shivers a bit as he does so.

"_Dark Hand _ and Ruvo's _Black Hand_ go way back with intense rivalry, mostly because of the name thing. Now a days, they control at least 60% of Nassau, and they constantly block the other's attempt to attain the rest," Naruto says as a history lesson.

Picking up where Naruto left off, Mystogan adds, "If he got inside information on them, he could run them out of business."

"Precisely."

"Now back to this signal you mentioned earlier," Mystogan says confused, "What exactly is it, and don't give me the cliché you know it when you see."

"Fine," Naruto says exasperated, "I am going to make the ants scurry around by kicking their hill." Naruto makes takes some more rope from his sack and ties it around mister submissive's feet. He throws over a tree branch and pulls making the unconscious man hand upside down.

"What you doing?" Mystogan says as he walks to another deadly conversation.

"You said no killing, and we cannot take him with us and the dark guild will kill him, so we have to leave him here. However, the wolves will eat him before he wakes up, so I am giving him a fighting chance," Naruto huffs out between pulls.

"Okay…but why? For some like you, the quicker way would be to just chance the wolves," Mystogan says confused.

"The easier way would be to just kill him, but I respect your wishes for everyone to come out of this alive," Naruto says tying the rope to a root he had commanded to surface from underground and putting his shirt back on.

Mystogan opens his mouth to say something, but he quickly closes it. He feels touched that Naruto cares enough to respect his wishes.

"One last thing," Naruto begins, "Because the bunker is built into a hill, there is only one way out, the way you came in. So don't attack anyone unless you can avoid alerting everyone else inside because once I start the siege, you will be on your own."

Mystogan gulps and nods his head in understanding before walking to the gates of hell.

X

"_Here goes nothing_," Mystogan thinks to himself as he comes out from behind a tree allowing himself to come into full view of the compound.

From far away, the compound is pretty lacking, but up close, the metals doors are at least ten feet tall and look to be at least a couple inches thick. It has no real aesthetic value, but it more than makes up for it in sheer size and impenetrability.

Immediately, he has four magic pistols and six rifles pointed in his direction. An electrical voice comes from over an intercom. "Put your hands on your head and kneel."

Mystogan refuses to comply and instead takes the wood clone head in his hand. Raising it up slowly so no one gets any funny ideas, Mystogan raises his voice, "I am a bounty hunter. I want my money."

A hole opens up in the gate and an electrical eye comes through. It jerks around a bit before returning back inside its hole. A buzz can be heard, and the metal doors open with a loud screech. "Please come inside," the voice says in a pleased manner.

Mystogan up to the gate and sees one of the men eyeing him not in the same manner as the others. Not as much as warily but greedily. _"Play the part," _Mystogan thinks to himself. As he comes closer to the man, Mystogan takes the head in his hand and uses like a mace. The head hits the man dead on the noise, and in a spray of blood, sends the man to the ground.

Immediately, the nine magic guns start whirling with power. Heedless, Mystogan gets right up into the downed man's face and says in his deepest voice possible, "Don't think I don't know you plan to jump me later for the bounty son, so keep your eyes to yourself boy."

Ironic that a boy told that to a grown man.

"Please, was it necessary to assault one of my men," the voice says but not from over the intercom.

Mystogan stands and looks over towards the voice._ "Found you bastard,"_ Mystogan thinks to himself. "It is always necessary to prove who the top dog in the pen is," Mystogan says in character. "Where did you get the burn?"

"_This is certainly an…unruly bounty hunter but most are," _the burned man thinks before saying, "My name is Hebi. Please to meet your acquaintance…" He side steps the question on purpose.

"Mystogan"

"Mystogan nice name for a man of your profession," Hebi says and half turns to go inside, "Please do come inside."

As Mystogan walks passes the metal doors which begin to screech shut, he notices that the doors are not a few inches thick but at least a foot and a half. Mystogan cannot help but think that he may never see the other side of the doors again.

Hebi's voice snaps him out of his depressed thoughts. "Please do tell me how you managed to apprehend such a _formidable _foe." The way Hebi said formidable makes Mystogan's upper lip start to perspire.

"If I told you, I would be out of business," Mystogan replies curtly trying to keep conversation to a minimum.

"I see. At least tell me how you managed to avoid that shadow of his," Hebi asks in a sweat voice meant to unnerve. It works slightly.

Mystogan is overcome with sudden fear. Naruto never told him that he would be questioned like this. He calms his racing heart and puts as much aggressiveness in his voice, "I won't reveal my secrets."

"Answer the question," Hebi says in an even sweater voice that in an odd way makes Mystogan almost answer the question truthfully.

With his hands beneath his cloak and the head back on his belt, Mystogan pinches his palm so hard with his other hand that it draws a prick of blood. _"Son of bitch, he is using charm magic somehow,"_ Mystogan thinks to himself while looking at a suspicious bracelet on Hebi's arm.

Not enough to time to come up with an acceptable answer, Mystogan plays the odds, "He doesn't…or didn't use shadow magic."

"You pass," Hebi says in a pleased and feminine tone.

Mystogan suppresses a shiver.

Hebi leads Mystogan through a series of tunnels and staircases before coming to a very ornate solid oak door and a silver door frame. The door knob even has an impressive fake glass stone. At least Mystogan thinks that it is fake because of how big it is.

As they come into the room, Mystogan is even more impressed. A gold and diamond chandelier hangs from the story and a half ceiling. A rich mahogany desk sits in the middle of the semi-circle room. Quite a few wine bottle sit on a rack alongside a wall. Mystogan is close enough to read that one of them is twenty years old.

Two other men beside Hebi and Mystogan are in the room. One sits behind a desk and the other is leaning over it looking at a piece of paper.

"Lord Kane, here is the bounty hunter that has brought Ruvo's third lieutenant head," Hebi says in his sweat voice.

"_I am going to kill you Naruto," _Mystogan thinks to himself.

"Thank you Hebi," the man sitting down says while standing up. Standing up, Mystogan sees that this Kane has the exact same face as Ruvo, the only difference is that Ruvo is like nine feet tall and this guy is 5'9.

"_Twins,_" Mystogan thinks to himself, _"How did I get myself into this situation? Oh wait, I asked a detached psychopath to help me."_

"I must see the head for your bounty," Kane says to Mystogan.

Mystogan nods his head and removes the wood clone head from his belt. Kane move from behind his desk and takes possession of the head. "Yes, this will do nicely."

"I think Ruvo will love his birthday present," says the man that was leaning over the table. The voice turns Mystogan's attention to him.

He has the same love of form obscuring clothes as Mystogan, but an observer can still see his military style buzz cut. Instead of a rag around his mouth like the other fully covered person in the room, he wears a demon's smile mask around his mouth. The odd thing however is that his eyes are yellow and silted like Naruto's.

"I think I will win this year's birthday contest," Kane says, "My twin brother won't stand a chance."

"_All this because of a sibling rivalry and who mother loved more!" _Mystogan thinks to himself.

"My money Lord Kane," Mystogan says in his fake manly voice. It never hurt to be polite.

"Of course," Kane says while going to the wine rack. He twists one of them in a certain direction and a wall safe door swings open behind his desk.

Suddenly a loud boom can heard throughout the compound. "Demon go see what is happening," Kane orders.

"_How appropriate," _Mystogan thinks to himself.

"Of course my Lord," he says while leaving the room.

Kane turns around to count out the correct amount of money, but while he does so, the occupants of the room hear another thunderous boom but far louder this time. The lights in the room dim before a red light flashes and an alarm sound comes on.

"I am terribly sorry Mystogan. We appear to be under…"

Kane never finishes because as he turns around to hand Mystogan his money, he sees a blinding light coming from a skull on a staff and then nothing.

**Please review**

**For those of you who don't know Hebi means snake. I thought might be poetic that he has a form of charm magic and all. I am Christian so it is funny to me. Genesis.**

**Yes, Kane and Ruvo are twin brothers just Ruvo drank raw eggs and protein shakes every day of his life. I figured that with the whole name thing why not just make it even more personal. **

**This chapter became really angsty really fast. I spent at least two hours fixing that. I hope by doing that I didn't ruin it. **


	8. Raiders

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

"_Thinking/extract from book/writing"_

"**Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 7/23/2014

XXXXXXX

Sometimes, Naruto hates his own plans.

Oh sure, he can see an opponent's weakness from only seeing it once, but the plans he creates can sometimes put him in danger. He and Erza have several times cheated mortal peril from his quick wit, but occasionally, his quick wit is just a bit too quick for his own good. As Naruto watched Mystogan walk through the figurative gates of hell, a small pit of worry enters his stomach.

Not that Naruto would ever admit it except through sarcastic remarks; Fairy Tail has been the best that ever happened to him. The people there are loud abrasive and rude at the best of times, but they don't let Naruto get away with his attitude shit. They know when to be forceful, and they know when to be scarce. Every member of Fairy Tail has become his family.

That is why as the gates close, Naruto's heart beat become erratic. _"Times like these make me glad, I prefer solo missions," _Naruto thinks to himself as his upper lip begins to perspire. It crosses Naruto's mind that this might turn into _Killer Wasp_ all over again. That is the reason why, Naruto spent those minutes destroying the video cameras Ruvo set up in the forest. Of course, Kane could have set those up too, but either way, they are scrap metal now.

As seconds turn into minutes and minutes into more minutes, Naruto begins phase two. Attract as much attention to the gates so that Mystogan has more of a chance of making it to the surface.

Naruto enters the compound's clearing with as much grace and lethal efficiency as a three legged elephant race. Basically, he took a pot from his sack and started bagging on it with a stick like a drunken idiot.

"Hey, hold it right there," a man says menacingly and draws his weapon and carefully approaches Naruto. The other nine gunmen take up defensive positions.

"I like was told that if I banged my pan with this here magic stick, it would make the snipes go away," Naruto slurs like a drunk idiot. It helped that he took a sip of whiskey to make it look and smell convincing.

The man lowers his gun slightly and thinks, _"How stupid can this kid be?_" before saying, "Kid you do realize that snipes don't exist."

"What!" Naruto fakes exclaims making sure to let the man smell his breath. "My friends like dared me to go like into the forest and survive the snipes." Naruto thinks to himself, _"It is a lot harder to fake being drunk than I thought. How do drunk people slur there words so easily."_

Thankfully, he does a good enough job of it to keep the charade up.

"Kid, you have been doped," the man says taking one of his hands off his gun to wave the air away from his nose. He turns around and says…well nothing because he let his guard down. Because as soon as the man turned around, Naruto strikes.

The fake drunk kid slams his stick into the back of the man's spine and smashes his pan on guard's head. The body naturally wants to drop unconscious, but Naruto grabs the man's unconscious body by the neck and the gun with his now empty stick hand. Naruto fires several precise magic stun bullets at the other nine idiots.

They of course fire back, but Naruto uses the guard's body as a meat shield.

The whole shoot out takes no more than five seconds, well shoot out might not be the right word. Massacre might be more appropriate. The nine gunmen fall like flies.

Naruto drops the gun and the dead body. Naruto might of have been firing stun bullets, but the other side wasn't. Still it isn't Naruto's fault that they used lethal shots instead of nonlethal ones.

Naruto walks up to the enormous giant doors, and he uses **Wood Magic: Battering Ram**. Two panels rise from the ground. From there, a perfectly cylindrical wooden log rises from the ground. Vines from each panel wrap themselves around the log suspending it in the air.

Naruto comes up from behind and grabs a hand hold with one hand on the backside of the log. He strains both his muscles and **Force** magic to the extreme to pull back the behemoth sized log. Suddenly, he engages his back muscles to flip the direction of the log to ram it into the metal doors.

A loud BOOM can be heard throughout the forest and inside the compound. Naruto looks at the metal doors with awe, not even a dent.

"_Those are thicker than I imagined_," Naruto thinks to himself before using both hands to pull back the battering ram. As an afterthought, he makes the front end of the log look like a ram's head, whimsicalness at its finest.

Like a billy goat ramming its head into a wall except with a head with a thousand times more force and a wall made of thick indestructible steel, Naruto pushes the ram's head into the oversized door with all his might.

The earth beneath him shakes as a testimony to how much force is behind that blow.

Still not a dent in the door, _"Now I see why Ruvo has not been able to plant a bug inside this place,"_ Naruto thinks to himself in sheer amazement at the fortitude of the compound.

Suddenly, a whirling sound can be heard emanating from a loud speaker. A metal screech follows as the doors start to open.

"Here come the ants," Naruto says to himself as he waves his hand to make the battering ram merge back into the ground. He casts **Wood Magic: Baton** to summon tree branches from each hand that quickly thins into a foot and a half long rod. Naruto brandishes the rods in each hand and spreads his feet to prepare himself.

XXXXX

All Kane knows is the light. The light welcomes him, surrounds him in warmth. The light tenderly whispers good things in his ear while stroking his head like a pet. The light defines good and safe.

"_Too good,"_ Kane thinks to himself. He looks the light straight at the source and it does not burn but cools his eyes. It is a soft light.

"_No, I am stronger than this,"_ he thinks to himself again as he wavers. The light hardens into a fluid like state and traps his body forcefully in its embrace. It whispers his deepest darkest desire in his ear. A world of concubines to serve his every pleasure and his brother an eunuch and forced into manual labor, the light whispers these things and more.

Kane's strength falters for but a moment. He could see living with the light for the rest of his life happy, but his desires are far more insidious than what the light can speak softly to his ego. _"I will make these things happen, but by my own hand,"_ Kane says to himself so forcefully that he breaks the light's hold over his mind.

Kane opens his eyes. The first thing he feels is nausea, almost like waking up from a hangover. "What happened?" Kane murmers. The second thing he feels is a rope around his feet and hands. The third thing he feels is that he is sitting upright with the warm desk on his back instead of the cold walls.

Kane hears a voice right above him. "I am surprised," the voice says, "That is my best illusion. I figured you would be out for another hour."

"_Where do I know that voice,"_ Kane thinks to himself. Suddenly, he shouts out, "Mystogan! What are you doing?"

"I need a device that your lieutenant, Hebi, has," Mystogan replies.

The light from the chandelier finally seems to stop glaring so much to allow Kane to see that Mystogan is emptying his safe into a bag. Kane feels an intense rage building up in the pit of his stomach. "I will kill you, Mystogan. No one crosses me."

"On the contrary, your brother has many times. He is the one who hired me to empty your safe in exchange for this man's location," Mystogan counters as he ties up the sack and nods his head in Hebi's direction.

"My bitch of a brother put you up to this," Kane says confused before understanding sets in. "I will kill him. Mark my words, and _you_ will never escape my fortress."

"I have a man on the outside," Mystogan replies smoothly.

"No man no matter how strong can breach my fortress," Kane says assured of that fact.

"That man is Naruto of the Forest."

Kane resists the urge to gulp. _"Ruvo got Forest back into the game! This is going from bad to worse,"_ he thinks to himself before saying, "Wait, why did you want Hebi's device."

Mystogan pausing as he turns the either obviously fake diamond or really large diamond door knob. "None of your business," he says dismissively.

"What did he tell you?" Kane asks interested.

Mystogan walks over Kane's downed and tied up form. He roughly grabs Kane's hair and pulls hard so that their eyes meet.

"Not much, his mind resisted too much so I killed him," Mystogan replies with a knowing and expectant edge.

"Your magic must be pretty weak to not be able to make that worm chirp like a canary," Kane replies with a smile. His luck is turning for the better.

Setting the bag filled with jewels and gems down, Mystogan punches Kane in the mouth with his now free hand.

Kane spits out some blood and says, "I see you aren't as civilized as I first thought."

"What gave you that idea? Breaking a man's nose with a decapitated head, sounds real polite," Mystogan mocks in a hick's voice.

Kane laughs heartily. With his hands tied up, he uses his lower back muscles to force himself to sit a little straighter. "Let us make a deal."

"What kind of deal," Mystogan says interested.

"You put all my money back and untie me, and I tell you where the device is," Kane says with a twisted smile. Kane could really care less about the device. Only Hebi could use it or least that is what Hebi told him. With Hebi's mind broken, the device is meaningless to Kane. Hebi only became a top lieutenant because of his **Charm** magic and the deivce.

"No deal," Mystogan says as he stands up.

"Wait," Kane calls out. Mystogan still heads to the door. "You want the device right, but not the money. The money goes to Ruvo, so why not take the deal."

"Ruvo would kill me if I double crossed him," Mystogan says plainly.

"How about I set you up with a new identity after this," Kane says trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Putting that on the table, means you want something more," Mystogan says plainly.

"I like you Mystogan," Kane says truthfully, "I want Forest's contact info."

Mystogan pauses for a moment before kneeling down beside Kane's tied up form. He tosses the bag aside and takes out a knife. "I want the device's location first."

"The device is in his room's safe behind the picture of the nude girl," Kane replies to which Mystogan just stares pointedly. "I swear on my mother's grave," Kane says.

Mystogan stares pointedly again before cutting the ropes around Kane's feet and hands. Kane rubs his wrists and says, "One last thing."

"What is that," Mystogan says unaware.

"Demon can capture Forest with ease," Kane says as he wraps his hands around Mystogan's head and torques it. Mystogan falls over in boneless heap. "My luck really is turning for the better," he says as he sits in his very expensive chair.

XXXXXX

The jolt of his death forces Mystogan out of the illusion. His breath comes out in raged gasps. It takes a moment for Mystogan to even breathe normally the jolt was so bad.

"_Thank the Lord for small miracles,"_ Mystogan thinks to himself as he observes Kane's and Hebi's unconscious forms.

Once Mystogan showed them the bright light, he immediately forced both of them into an illusion with light showing them their darkest desires. From there, Mystogan merely forced Hebi then Kane into another illusion that they shared with Mystogan.

While Mystogan has full control of the world, the world's setting is chosen by the victim. Hebi's mind proved to be more…perverse than Mystogan expected. His confusion over the world allowed Hebi to discern that the world was actually an illusion.

Kane's mind however acted suddenly and swiftly enough that Mystogan momentarily lost control of the situation. Dying in the illusion causes whoever is in the dream to be forcibly removed.

The one problem with the spell is that Mystogan's body is completely defenseless, so as battle spell, it is a lousy one.

Standing up, Mystogan places the bug under a desk drawer and leaves to find Hebi's room.

XXXXXX

They came swiftly and without hesitation. In droves, they poured out of the opening of the compound, but they were weak.

Only a few of the foot soldiers that fearlessly charged him had even the abilities or reserves of magic to be called a D-rank mage. Most came at him with magic barely capable of being called battle magic. Some couldn't even use magic, they just used swords and knifes.

Naruto effortlessly put down them down hard and without mercy, but for everyone defeated another four or five took his place. Numbers can only help the situation so much, only about five or so mages could fight Naruto without falling all over each other, and area wide spells would hurt their comrades more than Naruto. They learned that one the hard way.

Naruto knows this and more. He knows that the only way numbers win comes from attrition. Eventually, a man makes a mistake or falls to exhaustion. An inexperienced man sprints to the finish using up all his energy. Naruto however runs a marathon.

Not even using an ounce of magic except in desperate situations, Naruto makes the pile of unconscious bodies rise to the point that some people are actually standing on one. It becomes a dance almost, dodge or parry, disorientating shot, knockout blow, and repeat.

The bodies begin to thin after a while. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Naruto smashes his wooden baton into one last skull before crouching and casting **Wood Magic: Hornet's Nest**.

Naruto throws up a small wood ball into the air above him. The ball reaches the top of its arc to just float in the air before spinning rapidly. It shots out small but painful pellets of wood that disorientate the Dark Hand foot soldiers.

Naruto smiles at his good fortune and casts **Wood Magic: Inexperienced Fishcake**. Ropes of vine fall from the trees and wrap themselves around the unaware victim's feet. The vines pull causing the foot soldiers to bang their heads on the ground before being hoisted high into the air.

Naruto smiles at the sight of grown men hanging from their feet and throws away his batons and shouts out, "IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE? MY COMATOUSE GRANDMOTHER COULD DO BETTER THAN THIS." It has to be a grandmother joke because a Yo Mama joke isn't insulting enough.

A voice comes from over the intercom, "We have plenty more for you, _Forest_." Naruto doesn't particularly care for how the voice said his name, but his attention is drawn towards to the open entrance to the compound by two voices yelling out **Unison Raid: Infernal Fire Wave**.

Fire the color of the deepest blue sky imaginable erupts from the compound's entrance with a fury that would make a scorned woman green with envy. Naruto's eyebrows pull themselves high into the air in surprised gesture not from the attack itself but the speed of the attack. The sea of fire covers every possible escape route, so Naruto wraps his left arm around his face as he casts **Wood Magic: Ancient Warrior's Shield.**

A gigantic wooden arm rises from the ground with a round shield with a radius the size of ten feet. As the arm grows from the ground, the arm mirrors Naruto's arm movement.

The arm of the warrior slams its shield into the ground into the ground like a train at top speed. Still, it becomes a race against time that Naruto barely wins. The blue fire slams into the wood shield and almost wraps around it. Thankfully for Naruto, it doesn't, but he can still feel the heat from the fire on his skin making his clothes feel suffocatingly small.

"_They would kill their own guildmates!_"Naruto thinks to himself. For some reason, it doesn't sit right with him. Looking through the intense, flickering flames, Naruto sees some of the bodies burn to ashes, but some turn to glass and others melt. _"The other two, they are behind me!"_ he roars in his mind.

Keeping his arm in the same postion, Naruto's head imitates an owl to look behind him. To his horror, he sees two of the downed foot soldiers stand up even though they should have been knocked out for another few hours.

The two of them yell out **Unison Raid: Frozen Sand Storm**. The ground around them quickly freezes to become permafrost before eroding. The newly created sand picks up exactly how Naruto would a sandstorm would start before barreling his direction.

With little time, Naruto abandons his warrior's shield to audibly call out **Wood Magic: Coiling Serpent. **A serpent's head breaks through the surface of the ground with a hissing sound, Naruto finally fixed that problem by combining two chemicals in the mouth. It wraps its fifty foot long body protectively around Naruto by taking the full brunt of the attacks on either side.

When two or more mages come together as one cohesive unit, their magic collides similar to how two wavelengths combine together to create constructive interference. This collision is called Unison Raid, and some mages will struggle their entire lives to do achieve this.

One Unison Raid is powerful, but two can destroy entire villages with some power left over. If Naruto had kept two heavy, consuming spells up, the unison raids would have ravished Naruto's magic supply if not broken through in the first place. With just a serpent, Naruto stays protected from both attacks and only has to keep one spell up.

Still, the abrasive power of the frozen sand and the incineration ability of fire wave, Naruto's serpent quickly begins to fall apart. As more and more cracks open in the serpent, sand scraps against skin and the heat from the fire quickly escalates the temperature in the safe zone.

Suddenly, the attacks cease.

The clearing becomes silent as an uninhabited cave. No birds chirp and no frogs croak.

Naruto ceases channeling his magic to the serpent. It falls to the ground because only magic had kept the serpent standing tall and proud. Not immediately coming under assault, Naruto takes stock of his situation. He sees four men surrounding him at the four corners of an imaginative square.

Facing the compound and on the left side, a man wearing a suit and gold jewelry floats a few inches off the ground. He has a name tag saying Nomad.

To the right, a man wearing a thick heavily coat has the word Blazestitched onto his jacket.

Facing away from the compound on the opposite side as Nomad, a man wears a tracksuit and jumps up and down like a really ADHD person. The tracksuit also has stitching in it saying Sandman.

The last person has wears only thin, loose fitting pants and sweats up a storm. He also has Iceman tattooed on his chest.

"The four Raiders of _Dark Hand_ I presume," Naruto says with an internal laugh. "I thought you would be more like your codenames.

A really hyper, jittery voice from behind Naruto and to the left says, "YouareshorterthanIimaginedForest."

Naruto hears a deep, commanding voice on the same side as Sandman but on the side of the compound, "Enough Sandman, we have told you to never speak except when on your medications."

"Can we just get started? The sooner this is finished the sooner I can go back inside and get warmed up," the man on the same side of Nomad says.

"Oh gosh no," the last person of the quartet says, "That place is always so hot. I cannot believe that Lord Kane won't spring for a new air conditioner."

"Blaze, Iceman, enough of your bickering. We have a job to do," Nomad says in his deep voice.

"Jobtodo," Sandman parrots back.

"Hahaha," Naruto suddenly laughs. He holds his stomach tightly from his laughter. The Raiders are too stunned by the action to take use of the distraction. "You guys are nothing like Ruvo told me."

"Oh," Nomad hums, "What did he tell you?"

"That you guys are the strongest tag team in all of Fiore," Naruto says meaning to aggravate them into attacking him prematurely.

"Whyyou," Sandman sneers and rushes in.

"Sandman no," Iceman yells.

"_Perfect,"_ Naruto thinks to himself as he jumps at Sandman.

Sandman cocks his fist to throw a punch, but Naruto used a **Force** magnified jump to reach Sandman before he expected for them to reach each other. Naruto slams into the ADHD person and strikes Sandman in the temple for a quick KO. The elbow and head collide, but a crack appears on Sandman's face and sand particles fall to the floor.

Sandman smiles. Naruto feels a shiver crawl up his spine.

**Wind Magic: Vaccum Suction**, Nomad yells out. As the wind begins to pick up, Naruto instinctively creates a small tree that he grabs hold of, but Sandman allows himself to be pulled by the wind over to Nomad.

It is then that Naruto realizes his folly. During the brief skirmish, Blaze and Iceman and run over to Nomad's location, and now with Sandman over there as well, all four of them stand next to each other.

"_Shit,_" Naruto thinks to himself as all of them call **Unison Raid: Steaming Sand Fog.**

Blaze and Iceman combine their powers to create a massive fog of super-heated water particles that they mix with Sandman's sand to which Nomad uses his wind magic to push the fog towards Naruto. This particular unison raid might look and sound unimpressive, but this attack killed over fifty people in one go.

Naruto underestimating the attack casts his **Wood Magic: Ancient Warrior's Shield.**

The fog and the sand particles hit the shield like a cat lethargically pawing at a moving fly. The problem occurs when the super-heated water molecules and sand particles wrap themselves around the wood shield. Naruto not thinking too much about it breathes in normally, and that first inhale of fog burns the sensitive lung tissue that is unused to pain. It feels like his lungs are being deep fried in peanut oil. The sand shredding his throat doesn't help either.

The fog kills from the brain going into shock from the intense pain…plus suffocation from blood entering the lungs from the innumerable cuts the sand causes along the throat.

"AHHHHHHH," Naruto screams in agony which only makes it worse from the more fog he breathes in. The pain is so great that it breaks his concentration on maintaining the warrior's shield spell. When it does, Naruto breathes in the full dose of fog. "AHHHHHHHHH."

Naruto cannot think because his pain receptors are firing all at once. Now not only his lungs and throat on fire, but his whole body writhes in agony on the ground. All reasoning fades from his mind leaving only instinct. His animalistic side screams at him to move, but his body doesn't respond.

Soon, even the animal side begins to fade to oblivion leaving only forgotten and repressed memories.

X

"_I love you Naruto," a beautiful red head woman says as blood dribbles out of her mouth._

"_My message to you Naruto…Is the same as your nagging mother," a man with blond hair says faintly and with great sorrow._

"_Love your life Naruto, you only get one," an aging man with silver says as tears flow freely from his eyes._

"…_You aren't like others Naruto. Pain and fear has no sway over you, so why do you falter," a giant man says with disdain._

X

Those seemingly random memories make one simple word run through Naruto's mind, _"Live_."

"_Live." _Naruto stands clutching his throat.

"_Live." _Naruto puts his arms out in front of him.

"_Live."_ **Wood Magic: Flying Bullets.**

Small bulges appear on Naruto's palms before round wood bullets fly at high speeds towards the four Raiders.

Iceman, Blaze, Sandman, and Nomad assured of their victory all but gloat at their success. "Itoldyouthat…" Sandman begins but the others interrupt.

"Yes, we know you said we could beat Forest," the three of them yell.

Iceman says, "I never thought we could win so easily," as sweat rolls down his chest.

Blaze opens his mouth, but a suddenly, a wooden ball hits the back of his throat chocking him.

The other three surprised by the sudden attack falter slightly, and combined with Blaze no longer fueling his part of the Unison Raid and wood balls stinging them in random places, the fog attack ceases.

As the fog dissipates, they can see Naruto firing wood balls at them.

The Raiders like to think of themselves as one cohesive unit, but in reality, they are still common criminals looking out only for themselves.

Nomad flies high into the air. Sandman creates a wall of sand to protect himself to which Iceman hides behind as well. This leaves Blaze high and dry.

Having regained some sense of self back from his pain receptors stop flaring so much, Naruto sees his chance and casts **Wood Magic: Birth of Tree. **

One of Naruto's arms turns a brownish color similar to tree bark before elongating towards Blaze. The tree roots of the elongated arm capture Blaze in a tight embrace.

The tree and Blaze slam into ground. The wood growing on Naruto's arm detaches itself and quickly moves to stand straight into the air complete with leaves effectively taking Blaze out of the fight.

_"That is it Naruto. Teamwork's greatest enemy is separation. Keep separating them, and you will win," _a small voice that sounds like Makarov and Ruvo mixed together. Another voice in his head says, _"Remember your promise to Mystogan."_ Running on autopilot, Naruto keeps the roots from crushing Blaze's chest.

Though Naruto has recovered somewhat, in haze of pain, Naruto simply obeys by firing another **Birth of Tree** spell at the sand wall.

Nomad who had a birdeye's view of what is going on casts **Wind Magic: Angel's Wind Palm.** Nomad makes a slamming motion that sends out a huge wave of pressurized air that intercepts the **Birth of Tree** and makes Naruto cast **Wood Magic: Interlocking Wood Dome**.

Wood pillars rise from the ground and slam together above Naruto's head. Naruto annoyed by the intrusion places his hands on the wood pillars. Flowers grow out of the top of the dome before blooming. Suddenly, the red and white flowers fire small tree seeds into the air in an interception pattern. This makes Nomad fly around constantly dodging, and every time he tries to land, the flowers keep him from doing so

Nodding to himself, Naruto steps out of the dome. Immediately, he has to dodge a wave of sand heading his way. He successfully dodges the sand, but he as puts his right foot on the ground, an ice mine goes off encasing his lower body in ice.

Sandman appears in front of Naruto to whom he places his hands on Naruto's head. The sand flows off of him and onto Naruto's upper body quickly covering everything. Just as the tiny particles of ground enter Naruto's mouth to suffocate him, Naruto says, "Thanks."

Sandman's eyebrows furrow in confusion before widening in shock. Cacti bloom out from the sand coating Naruto's body.

Sandman says, "Shit." As soon as he uttered that famous word, the cacti explode causing their needles to go flying straight into Sandman. His body contracts violently before falling onto his back.

As the paralytic poison from the cacti needles take effect, the sand covering Naruto falls off. Naruto gulps down air into his still burning lungs. Channeling magic to his legs, he flexes his muscles to break the ice. "I am so glad that Porlyusica gave me that book on basic herbology," Naruto says to himself though wincing with each word. It is good thing too because cactus needles contain no poison naturally.

"SANDMAN," Iceman calls out from Naruto's wood dome spell. Somehow, Iceman had caused the wood to wither and die allowing Nomad to float back down to earth.

"How did this happen?" Nomad says quietly to himself.

"You got in my way," Naruto declares to the two remaining raiders who had regained the last of his sanity from the fog.

Surprised that Naruto could hear him, Nomad replies non the less, "Iceman lets finish this."

"I might dislike Blaze, but for Sandman, I will kill you," Iceman declares to Naruto.

"The only thing I have to say is 'Bring It," Naruto spits out.

Nomad makes the first move. **Wind Magic: Heaven's Cutting Blade.**

A blade of cleaving horizontal air comes rushing towards Naruto whom just does a running slide to dodge it. Iceman predicting that Naruto would either jump or duck the blade appears directly over Naruto and casts **Ice Magic: Spear. **

Naruto casts **Wood Magic: Hideous Monster's Tentacles** or at least he tries.

Earlier, Iceman had killed the wood dome and the plants by channeling his ice magic through the ground to turn it into permafrost. Trees and most plants cannot grow in permafrost ground. Iceman merely did the same thing as before.

Naruto realizes that his wooden tentacles aren't coming to his aid to late; however, he is not too late to grab hold of the sub-zero ice spear and redirect it from its original target, his heart, to his left bicep. It hits no bone, but it does go all the way through.

Grunting in pain, Naruto winces and grabs Iceman by his left arm. Naruto channels quite a bit of **Force **magic to throw Iceman into the steel compound hard though not hard enough to knock him out.

Standing up, Naruto breaks the spear and pulls it out through the exit wound. He channels a bit of **Wood** magic to seal the wound, so he won't blackout from blood lose. He still clenches his teeth in pain though.

He finishes not a moment too soon because Nomad floats down behind Naruto to slice him in half with **Wind Magic: Angel's Sword.**

The wind sword comes down in a vertical slash, so Naruto sidesteps the deadly arc and grabs Nomad's head. Before Naruto can however, his instincts scream at him to jump backwards. Never one to deny his baser desires, Naruto does so with extreme urgency, and just as he does so, several lethal looking ice shuriken fly past where Naruto would have been.

This gives Nomad the time to escape back to Iceman to whom he says, "Let's end this."

Iceman nods his head and together they cast **Unison Raid: Blizzard.**

Naruto taking the cue that this is the end approaches, casts his old favorite **Wood Magic: Coiling Serpent.** Once more, the wooden snake erupts from the ground coiling around Naruto protectively.

Together they ride the storm, but soon the temperature in the protected area underneath the serpent becomes too cold to stand. Not seeing any other choice, Naruto commands the wooden snake to go to **Lunge Formation**.

Outside, the snake hisses loudly and strikes. The storm level winds however keep the snake from making too much head way. The ice buildup ways down the snake and it becomes a battle of attrition.

The remaining raiders begin to run out of magic because the winds die down, and Naruto also starts running on fumes if the lack of hissing is an indication.

In the end, Nomad bottoms out first. The winds abruptly end allowing the serpent to come careening towards the duo. Iceman jumps out of the way in time, however Nomad stumbles as he tries to dodge.

The snake swallows him whole and crashes into a tree. Nomad will live, but he isn't getting out of the snake anytime soon.

Iceman looking up makes a move to stand but sees Naruto standing above him with his fist raised high. Accepting his failure, he hangs his head in defeat. Naruto smashes his fist into Iceman's head for the final knockout.

Looking down at Iceman's prone form, Naruto thinks to himself relieved, _"Finally over…I hope Mystogan comes soon."_

He doesn't wait long because a surprised voice comes over the intercom, "I am surprised. You beat everyone in Dark Hand…except of course for me."

Not sure if he can go another round, Naruto says otherwise, "Then fight me. Let me show you why the name of Forest spreads fear through the dark guilds."

The voice doesn't answer, but the metal doors screech open once more.

From the gates of hell, a man walks out with yellow slitted eyes, a buzz cut, and wearing a black jumpsuit. The surprising thing however is Mystogan being held a foot off the ground and strangled by a devilishly long tongue.

The only thing that passes through Naruto's mind is, _"What the Hell."_

**Please Review**

**Sorry it took me so long to update. My dad took me and my brother out to the farm to chop…(miskeets) I don't know how to spell them, but they make holes in tractor tires, so very bad. I was gone for like five or six days.**

**Did you know that grasshoppers make a popping noise when you set them on fire. **

**With this being just a fight scene, I tried to add in some humor to break it up a bit, but I don't know how well it went over.**


	9. Politics

**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail. **

"Normal talking"

"NORMAL YELLING"

"_Thinking/extract from book/writing"_

"**Magic"**

XXXXXXX

Published: 8/4/2014

XXXXXXX

Makarov's Offive Fairy Tail

XXXXXXX

Sighing to himself, Makarov shifts uneasily in his seat from all the paperwork on his desk. He isn't nervously tapping the desk with an eraser over the fairly large paper stacks as much as a single piece of paper.

After being the Guild master for so long, he had developed a way of dealing with the stuff a long time ago. The solution is pretty ingenious…or least ingenious to a man that has both huge insurance policies dealing with property damage and being a member of the Wizard Saints.

Split the paper into four piles with the first pile dealing with insurance claims that go directly to the insurance company. The second and third piles are pretty similar because one of them he reads for a good laugh on the toilet and the other he folds into paper planes and sets on fire to throw at Natsu.

The last pile however deals with the important stuff such as being a Wizard Saint and Guild master. Fortunately, only one paper sits on his desk, but unfortunately, the paper unsettles Makarov in a very profound way.

One year ago, a murder popped up on the Rune Knights radar, not very interesting to anyone until it became known that the murder has magic which is fairly uncommon. At first, the Rune Knights preferred to leave him alone because the murder and everyone after it happened to some low ranking corrupt politicians and worst of the worst criminals. They, Makarov and several others as well, just assumed that the killer had lost his family and wants revenge.

That changed when his latest and last victim in over a year was a simple banker. Simple might not be right word, influential might be the better one. He had no say in whatever banking laws being created or repealed, but he was the brother of the Rune Knight Commander.

It was a shit storm if Makarov ever saw one.

Every available detective, PI, and rune knight quickly jumped at the chance to catch the killer not only for justice but for obvious fame and glory that came along with being the person that solved the murder of the Rune Knight Commander's brother. Every case involving the murderer was quickly scrutinized for the smallest detail.

At first glance, a rookie can tell that the killer has some form of **Wood Magic**, an uncommon magic for sure but there has to be at hundreds of **Wood** magic users. All the murders occurred near or around Nassau and because of that; the locals were not to forth coming with answers which leaves forensic evidence and the like.

The knights never found any trace DNA from the scenes and the earlier idea of leaving the killer alone proves to be many people's undoing because the knights never bothered to collect magic signature samples from the crime scenes figuring it would be waste of already thin resources. The banker's body and family's body weren't found for several days, and they were only found because the weekly maid found them.

Six months into the investigation, no one could find any discernible leads to the identity of the killer, so the magic council ordered all Wizard Saints to review the findings for any new leads or clues.

Makarov found one.

As the killings progress, killers often become more comfortable with the act and gain experience like children first learning to walk. It is a horrible comparison, but the idea is sound, so Makarov poured over the first few murders.

It took a few days and several cups of coffee in the wee hours of the morning, but he found one. In the second occurrence, the unknown assailant tried to slit the criminal's throat like all the others, but the victim apparently saw or heard the attacker and fought back. The house, the location of the murder, quickly became trashed from wood constructs and **Puppet** magic.

The victim eventually lost and his throat slit, but the real story is the destroyed puppets. The victim employed a total of eleven puppets throughout the battle, six of which were destroyed by tree roots piercing them, four by being cocooned by wood, and with the final one's 'head' being crushed in.

To Makarov's keen eye, he might have just been given the gold ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

The question however became why he didn't ensnare the puppet or destroy it with tree roots. Looking through some of the pictures, Makarov traced the steps of the battle.

The assailant entered through the back door, but the door fit too snuggly with the frame causing it to creak open. The victim must have heard the sound because the fighting started in the living room, but the body was found in the bedroom, so the living room was where the fight began.

As Makarov studied the photos more, the surprise counter attack with a snake puppet that confounded the killer long enough for another puppet to attack the killer from behind. The killer has to have some experience because the average thug wouldn't have survived the counter attack. Anyways, the killer survived the first bout, but that second puppet forced him to use a different type of magic.

A dual magic wielder is rare, but one with **Wood** and a type of close combat magic dwindles to the list to a reasonable size to start questioning people.

Makarov however wanted to prove to those young whipper snappers that while old dogs cannot learn new tricks, they certainly have quite the repertoire of tricks. So, the old dog bought quite a few of puppets of the exact or similar model with similar materials and called in a few favors with his fellow guild masters to lend any mage with close range magic.

Every single type of close range magic failed spectacularly.

Everyone failed because the original puppet's head is still intact while the copy puppet's head aren't. So, Makarov thought to himself one day after another failed trial, _"What type of damn magic does this guy use. It is like the force be…"_ that was a horrible thought entered his head. _"What if Naruto did this,"_ Makarov cringed at the thought before waving it off but another thought entered his head._ "He was gone for all those killings," _Makarov cringed once more but once again waved it off.

Over the next few days, Makarov started to notice subtle differences with Naruto. He kept more to himself and avoided people more often than he used to. Not unusual per say, but definitely odd behavior.

The aging guild master couldn't get the thought out of his head however. He spent nights up unable to sleep and when he did, he kept seeing Naruto killing those people. So eventually and as silly as it sounds, Makarov went over to Naruto's little house at the end of the day.

He never made it to the front steps.

From a distance, he saw Naruto using **Force **magic to demolish small trees only to grow another in its place. It was probably an exercise in how often he could change the nature of his magic. An important exercise for any multi magic wielder, but even from a distance, Makarov could see that Naruto's punch only affects the area it touches, just like the puppet's head.

Quickly running to his office, Makarov made sure no one was around and wept. Much gnashing of teeth and clothes ripping happened that night. It was all he could do to not explode from sadness and anger.

As the first rays of sunlight passed through the office window, Makarov dried his tears and had a choice to make, either turn in Naruto or not. It was a difficult decision to make. On the one hand, handing Naruto over to the Rune Knights would be the morally right decision, but his selfish heart wanted Naruto to stay in Fairy Tail.

With a heavy heart, Makarov picked up his thought projection orb to send a message to the Rune Knight Commander to tell him he found the killer, but as his shaky hand caressed the cool glass of the orb, he couldn't do it. He had already excommunicated his own flesh and blood son just a few years prior; Makarov doubted his heart could deal with it all over again. However, Makarov couldn't live with himself if he let that banker and his family go without justice.

The internal battle inside his mind raged for hours before finally a single ray of hope parted the warring parties. Naruto had not killed for about a year, and why would he kill in the first place. The green haired child is many things, arrogant, clueless, and anti-social bordering on reclusive occasionally, but Naruto is not a psychopath. Maybe a high functioning sociopath, but he is not a psychopath, so why did he kill those people.

The only rational thought that could justify his actions would be that he was under some form of duress. To Makarov's stress filled mind and aching heart, it was like a soothing hot springs bath that soaked his worries away…or at least some.

Eventually, Makarov made his choice however right and wrong at the same time. He will keep Naruto's secret and prevent it from being known if possible, but should the Rune Knights show up one day, he would hand Naruto over to them.

Any legal means would wind up Naruto in jail for life or execution, not to mention whatever inhumane experiments they might perform on him once they figure out that he isn't from this side of the portal, and the master mind in the wind. The legal means should be avoided for now; however, one day Naruto will stand trial for his actions. After that and duress or not, the decision will be up to the Magic Council.

At the end of Makarov's mental dilemma, he dressed himself and used his thought projection orb to call the Rune Knight Commander. Makarov informed him that he came up with nothing in his investigation.

Makarov must have tipped him off somehow by some imperceptible body language tell or the tone of his voice. Either way, the commander let it slide…until he sent a regiment to confiscate all of Makarov's files three days later.

The bad news is that Makarov never burned those files just in case he needed to prove something later, but the good news is that Makarov coded those files with his magic scrambler device. The better news is that if they try to decode those files, all they will get is a cartoon of Makarov giving the peace sign slapping a girl's ass along with the files being destroyed forever. The worse news however is that they _will_ notice the code, and they will know that the Wizard Saint knows something.

So for six months, Makarov has played the bureaucratic game with the Magic Council constantly being one step ahead of them. That is until his longtime friend, Yajima, sent him a letter saying, _"We need to discuss your wayward leaf my old friend."_

Had it been anyone else, Makarov would have immediately dismissed the letter without second thought, but Yajima isn't just anyone. He is quite possibly the only man that could prove that Naruto is the killer besides Makarov himself because of his relationship with Fairy Tail. Plus, because of that relationship, Yajima might think he is doing the right thing for both the country and Fairy Tail by letting it be known that the killer is Naruto.

Nervously, Makarov repeatedly taps the table with eraser end of his pencil.

Tap…Tap,tap…Tap,tap…Tap,tap…Tap,tap,knock

Looking up, Makarov sees one of his newer recruits, Mystogan. "Please come in son," Makarov says politely and puts the letter back in his desk. "Can I assume that everyone down stairs is asleep?"

"I prefer for people to not see my face," Mystogan says in a monotone voice.

"You can do that with your mask around your face," Makarov counters with his grandfatherly voice. His former worry locked away for the moment from the jovial air.

"I like my privacy," Mystogan counters once more.

Makarov sees that the current line of conversation isn't going anywhere, so he asks, "What can I do for you today."

"I have favor to ask of you," Mystogan says rather impatiently.

"Please ask," Makarov replies while motioning for his student to take a seat to which he obliges.

As he sits down, Mystogan says, "I need to find a man, but I find myself lacking in the ability to do so. Also with my…less than desirable amenities, I will require you to ask them for help," He says this in a very formal way and tone to help disguise the fake voice he uses to hide his pre-adolescent voice.

Makarov however caught onto the trick the first time they meet and therefore says and does nothing to donate that he knows about Mystogan's real age. "Well…Fairy Tail has many trackers to pick from…" Makarov starts a bit confused and apprehensive over the matter, but the secretive boy interrupts however.

"The tracker also has to have some battle abilities and experience as well. Plus this is a personal mission," Mystogan says far too frankly for the situation.

Suddenly, the earlier worry worms its way back into Makarov's chest. "Mystogan…this guild isn't your own personal garrison for you to do with as you please. I can understand asking the help of an experienced tracker, but one with combat experience. It is one thing to ask a friend in the guild to help you on a job that may not suite your abilities in some areas. It is completely different matter to ask me to order someone to help you especially on a personal errand," Makarov rants off abandoning his former grandfatherly tone. "What exactly do you need here?"

Mystogan drums his fingers against his leg unhappy with Makarov's statement before saying, "The person I am tracking has something…" Mystogan pauses for a moment and steers the conversation away from its former course. "Things might get ugly."

"_Ugly my ass," _Makarov thinks to himself. _"The only reason why you want a fighter with tracking knowledge over a team of trackers and fighters is because the trackers might wind up dead." _Tapping the table nervously again, Makarov peers directly into Mystogan eyes which is the only visible part of his body.

Mystogan only blinks once.

Eventually, Makarov asks, "What kind of tracking and how experienced?"

"Urban more than likely and at least B-rank mage," Mystogan replies frankly.

"_Why do all the mages with the most potential have to be so messed up in the head," _Makarov thinks to himself. _"My team and I weren't messed up in the head back then or even now."_ It should be noted that one of his old teammates wears a dog collar, another became a transvestite, the only woman on his old team is still a virgin at the age of 80, and Makarov himself routinely wears a jester outfit for his normal clothes.

"Look Mystogan…"

"I know what I am asking for Master, but I am in desperate need of someone with these skills," Mystogan pleads…almost.

Looking at the boy in a man's body, Makarov struggles to come up with an answer. Suddenly, an idea pops into his mind. _"Why not get Naruto to help him. If Yajima does indeed intend to turn Naruto over to the Rune Knights then this might keep Naruto away from the guild should the Rune Knights show up looking for him."_

"I have the perfect person for you," Makarov says cheerfully after a moments pause that really freaks Mystogan out. Especially considering Makarov the second before would have said no vehemently. Regardless, Mystogan says politely, "Thank you Master."

"Unfortunately, he is currently away on a mission escorting a celebrity," Makarov says while taking out a pen and paper. Mystogan watches his master scribble something on the paper before sealing it with the Fairy Tail's wax seal.

Mystogan's childish side kind of wants to open the letter because of the seal, but should he open it, he knows bad things will happen. "When will he be back?" he asks curiously. The sooner he gets the device, the sooner he can destabilize the anima portals on this side.

"He should be back in five days give or take a day," Makarov answers as he hands the letter over. The cheerfulness leaves Makarov's voice once again. "Do not expect me to contact Naruto and order him to return from an active mission with pay just to appease your mysterious and personal errand without pay. Plus, even if I did, he wouldn't come back just to spite me and you."

Mystogan frowns not that Makarov can see, but the tone of his voice is a much better tell. "If he going to take that long then is there anyone else that can be substituted for him."

Makarov leans in close…er. Small bodies don't lean to well especially ones that need a booster seat to see over the desk. "Let me tell you a little secret." Hearing this Mystogan leans in close as well, "most mages only specialize in one area, battle, healing, tracking, etc… and the ones that do either aren't very good or are constantly busy."

Completely disappointed by the secret, Mystogan lets out a rare sigh of exasperation. "I will be going then," he says as he stands to leave and puts the letter in his cloak pocket.

Makarov watches Mystogan leave his office before taking out another piece of paper to write another letter to his old friend. As he seals the letter with his Wizard Saint wax seal, Makarov stares intently at the vanilla envelope and the future consequences it might hold. _"Do I really want to do this?" _he thinks to himself, _"I guess it's hypocritical to excommunicate my own flesh and blood but fight so desperately for someone that has only caused me grief…No, Ivan choose his path willingly. Naruto…Naruto may still be shown the path of justice."_

His choice made, Makarov re-equips into his Wizard Saint outfit and walks downstairs.

Several of his sons and daughters see him walk down the steps with a demeanor they had not seen in a very long time. Makarov could almost hear their thoughts.

"_Why is master in his formal robes?"_

"_I wonder where he is going."_

"_Where is the clown hat?"_

Ignoring them, Makarov walks up to counter wher Macao and Wakaba are sitting. Well, Macao sitting having a beer and Wakaba bar tending because his wife is out sick again.

"Wakaba," Makarov says not in a harsh or hard tone but in a forceful one saying 'listen and listen good because I am not taking any crap right now'.

"Master," Wakaba says a little startled that almost causes him to drop a glass and who has the sudden urge to salute.

"I need this in the outgoing mail today. Six hour travel one if possible," Makarov says as he hands over the letter.

"I will do that right now," Wakaba replies taking the letter. He jumps over the bar counter and runs out of the building and in the direction of the post office.

"Macao," Makarov says in his forceful voice.

"What, I am getting my drink on in…"

"Sober up," Makarov commands.

Macao immediately throws his beer across the mess hall and slaps himself several times.

"Thank you," Makarov says, "I will be gone for three or four days. You will be in charge for the duration of my absence."

"Yes Sir," Macao says as he actually does salute.

Makarov flaps his cap and walks out of the building in stride.

Several of the younger members of Fairy Tail wonder what just happened, but they do know this, 'Don't mess with Master when he is serious.'

XXXXX

A few days later in Era. Sixth Seat Yajima's Office

XXXXX

"Macky, how good to see you my old friend," Yajima says as he steps out from around his desk to embrace his old friend and colleague.

"Yaji, I have missed you as well," Makarov says as the two embrace in a hug once more in his cheery mode.

As the two step back, Makarov can tell that time has been doing the exact same thing to him as well. Yajima's back is hunched, and he has shrunken from old age. All the color has long since faded from his hair. For some strange reason, he grew out a tooth brush when he left Fairy Tail saying it made him look sexy.

"Still rocking the mustache, eh," Makarov pseudo mocks his old friend.

"I will have you know that I have picked up three girls numbers yesterday," Yajima counters far too seriously.

"Impressive getting three fake phone numbers from three fake woman," Makarov fires back.

"I can get more than phone numbers with this mustache if you know what I am saying," Yajima says as he pokes Makarov with his elbow.

Shaking his head, Makarov cannot keep the smile off his face, "There are so many counters to that, but at the moment I cannot think of a good enough one for the situation."

"And that is why I said it," Yajima replies as he walks back around to desk seat.

"I got your letter, and I hope you got mine," Makarov says abruptly as he slips into the one of the two chairs in front of Yajima's desk.

Yajima sighs to himself softly. He had hoped they could have spent more time talking like they used too. "Yes, I received your letter, and you are right. This is conversation that needs to be conducted in person not thought projection."

They pause for a moment to collect their thoughts, and because they don't know how to start such a potentially heated argument. What had once been a friendly and open environment quickly becomes very cold and discomforting.

Makarov breaks the silence by saying, "How did you find out?"

"_It has begun," _Yajima sighs to himself, "Oddly enough, you did."

"I figured my actions would send a signal flare saying 'I know who it is," Makarov says softly to himself.

"That it did, and the only reason you aren't in jail for noncooperation in a high level is because of the spectacle involving the arrest of a Wizard Saint, especially you of all them," Yajima replies. He shakes his head and continues, "In all of the murders, the killer only used **Wood** magic, and the only people that I know of that you would protect from a murder charge would be your children. It wasn't a stretch to figure out who it is from there. Nobody else has figured this out because they are still busy looking for connections between the victims."

Makarov looks down at his feet once more unsure of his choice. _"At least no one else knows."_

"Macky," Yajima says softly, "Tell me I am wrong, and I will believe you."

Makarov continues to look at the ground guiltily and softly says, "I cannot."

"_This is going to be a nightmare and a half," _Yajima thinks to himself before saying, "This is circumstantial, but it will be enough for the Rune Knights to question him and get search warrants. From there, it will only go downhill. Macky, I will give you three days to excommunicate the boy before I…"

"No," Makarov interrupts with his serious face, once more convinced of his decision "I came here to save the boy's life not condemn him."

Yajima's face hardens and as the light hits his overextended forehead, it gives him quite the unsettling appearance. "Makarov…" he says only that one word because the tone of this voice conveys his displeasure and disapproval.

Makarov's eyes light up incandescently from his **Light **magic flaring. "Yajima…I have gone too far and done too much to allow him to be taken now."

Yajima's magic bursts through the proverbial dam causing some of the pens on his desk to rise. "Where is the righteous man that excommunicated his own son because all I see is a criminal hiding another one," he accuses with intention.

Makarov raises his magic to match and overpower his friend's magic. "I excommunicated my own son because he made his choice willingly. Naruto was black mailed into his crimes."

Yajima's magic falters slightly before rising exponentially. As a result, the walls start to shake uncontrollably. "What evidence do you have to support this claim?"

"The same kind you have against my son," Makarov fires back and matches his magic pressure to Yajima's own.

The desk unable to withstand the intense colliding magic pressure rips in half with the both halves flying in opposite directions. The chairs are flung backwards making both of the ancient men float by their own magic pressure.

"All you bring to me to save your _precious_ child is mere hearsay. You really have become a _criminal_," Yajima vehemently accuses.

"I know Naruto. He is quite possibly the most infuriating pain in my ass son I have ever taken in my time as Guild master for Fairy Tail, but he is no criminal and especially not a killer," Makarov vehemently dies.

"Yet by your tongue, you have confessed to me that he killed those people. So why do you put so much faith in a BOY THAT HAS KILLED," Yajima yells out.

"I put my faith in not in a murder but in a MAN THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO SURPASS ME," Makarov yells back in kind. As he said those words, Makarov finally realized why he puts so much faith in Naruto because it is the truth.

"All the more reason to put him in jail now before it becomes too late," Yajima redirects raising his magic pressure to his upper most limits

"I am not only talking about power but strength of the mind and will. I believe in my heart that one day that boy will do something great and wonderful," Makarov spouts out and fully lets loose his magic completely overwhelming his old friend.

As the magic of the aging master of Fairy Tail reaches new heights, Yajima could feel Makarov's hope and adoration for not only Naruto but every one of his children. All of a sudden, Yajima's magic pressure drops back down to nothing, and he falls to the ground. "I don't understand," he says confused.

"You don't have to," Makarov soothes to his confused friend. "I just need you to trust me."

"This isn't like the old days Macky," Yajima sighs deeply to himself remembering the good old days. "I have responsibilities and people that depend on me to make the right call."

"I know," Makarov says as he puts his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I hate to put you in this position, but I need some more time to find the person blackmailing Naruto."

"Before I even make a decision, I need to hear the whole story," Yajima concedes.

Looking his friend in the eye for a moment, Makarov begins, "Like I said before, Naruto is a pain the ass, but he isn't a killer. So, I asked myself why he did it in the first place. I couldn't find a plausible excuse."

"Blackmail was…"

"Is" Makarov briefly interrupts.

"your answer," Yajima replies. "That is pretty thin and maybe just the hopes of an old man. Have you at least confronted Naruto about this?"

"No, if I asked him about this, he would just refuse to answer and walk away," Makarov sighs to himself. _"Why do the more powerful one have to be so damn frustrating?"_

"Now what about this…other thing," Yajima asks greatly confused.

"Naruto's magic is different than ours. He is special. When others would have given up and died, Naruto stood. Maybe not tall and proud, but he stood none the less. He has made mistakes, but he deserves the chance to make up for his wrongs," Makarov declares.

"Macky…" Yajima begins but is interrupted.

"I know what I am asking, but I need you to keep quiet about this for time being," Makarov pleads.

"I don't trust this kid, but…I trust you, so I won't tell anyone for the moment," Yajima concedes regretfully knowing this will end badly.

"Thank you," Makarov says thankfully and hopeful.

"But, you will pay for new furniture," Yajima says pointedly.

"Send the claim to my insurance company," Makarov grins.

The two look at each other for a moment before sharing a loud and infectious laugh.

On the other side of the sound proof door.

"How high does their magic pressure go?" the first soldier says to the second soldier.

"Makarov is a Wizard Saint, and Yajima used to be on his team, so really high," the second says in wonder.

"What do you think they are laughing about," the first soldier asks his companion.

"Well considering that is the desk," the other soldier points to one half of the desk impede on the opposite side of the hallway, "maybe an insurance scam."

"Very plausible."

XXXXXX

A few days later in Magnolia. Fairy Tail

XXXXXX

A magic vehicle plows straight through the front of the building sending several members flying.

Makarov back in his jester outfit hops off his spot on the counter faster than most men can blink. Taking stock of the situation, he can tell no one else is hurt beyond shock from the sudden and spectacular intrusion.

Suddenly, Mystogan jumps out of the vehicle and falls to his knees with Naruto in his arms bridal style. "Master, Naruto isn't breathing," he wheezes out painfully.

**Please Review**

**Sorry this took me so long to get out. I have one job already, and when I go back for college, I need to have another one. So I have been getting my B-class license to drive the transit buses around the college. My days were and are so full that the only thing I want to do when I get home is to sleep.**

**I knew that with my hectic schedule; I would not be able to do justice to the final section of the fight scene with Naruto vs. Demon and Mystogan vs. Demon. Also, because I am evil.**


End file.
